Brazil

• Friday, December 30th 2016 - 17:12 UTC

  Brazilian banks drastically cutting costs to lower interest rates

  

  The Brazilian government has not pressured state-run banks to free up credit and reduce their spread, but interest rates are likely to fall as the central bank's benchmark Selic rate continues to drop, state-controlled Banco do Brasil Chief Executive Officer Paulo Rogerio Caffarelli said.

• Friday, December 30th 2016 - 17:04 UTC

  Odebrecht bribes' return ratio: for each million paid out it earned US$ 4m in contracts

  

  According to the Swiss Public Prosecutor, Odebrecht regularly paid Brazilian politicians and political parties from secret accounts in Geneva. For every US$1 million that the company paid out to politicians, it earned back US$4 million in contracts.

• Thursday, December 29th 2016 - 22:28 UTC

  Whereabouts of Greek Ambassador to Brazil unknown since Monday

  

  Local police said in a statement on Thursday that Greece's ambassador to Brazil, Kyriakos Amiridis, has been last seen Monday night in Nova Iguacu, 40 kilometers northwest of Rio de Janeiro.

• Wednesday, December 28th 2016 - 19:20 UTC

  Petrobras/Total partnership; French company plans US$ 1bn annual investments

  

  The Brazilian unit of French energy giant Total SA in Brazil, Total E&P do Brasil, plans annual investments of US$1 billion in Latin America’s largest economy, Valor Econômico quoted Maxime Rabilloud, who heads the Brazilian operation. Rabilloud said Total and Petrobras will keep in contact regarding the possibility of making other deals and forging future partnerships.

• Tuesday, December 27th 2016 - 09:26 UTC

  Chapecoense team air crash caused by human error: pilot, airline and Bolivian regulators blamed

  

  The plane crash that killed 71 people in Colombia last month, including players from Brazil's Chapecoense football team, was caused by human error, an investigation says. Colombian officials said there was no technical failure and blamed the pilot, the airline and Bolivian regulators. A recording had already indicated the aircraft had run out of fuel.

• Tuesday, December 27th 2016 - 09:17 UTC

  Petrobras plans to claim part of Odebrecht's payments deal in US and Switzerland

  

  Brazilian oil company Petrobras plans to request part of the record anticorruption settlement that construction company Odebrecht SA signed earlier this week with Brazilian, U.S. and Swiss authorities. Petrobras has said it was the victim of the vast bid-rigging and kickbacks scheme that Odebrecht admitted to helping run.

• Tuesday, December 27th 2016 - 09:12 UTC

  Brazil's trade balance with a US$ 45bn surplus record

  

  Brazil's trade balance reached a surplus of US$ 45bn by the third week of December. The third week period recorded a US$ 864 million surplus from exports of US$ 3.969bn and imports of US$ 3.105bn. The result is far better than last year when the whole year surplus was US$ 19.69 billion.

• Saturday, December 24th 2016 - 17:50 UTC

  UK and Brazil agree on a Business Dialogue to address commercial and political issues

  

  The United Kingdom and Brazil announced the creation of the Anglo-Brazilian Business Dialogue, which aims to establish a bilateral business dialogue to address commercial and political issues affecting UK and Brazilian companies in their respective markets and to refer them to the upper echelons of both governments. This was achieved during the recent visit to Brazil of Liam Fox, British Secretary of State for International Trade

• Saturday, December 24th 2016 - 15:41 UTC

  President Temer rejects any idea of resigning, “I haven't given it a thought”

  

  Brazilian President Michel Temer rejected any idea of resigning and anticipated he will file “one appeal after another” if the Superior Electoral Court (TSE) rules that the action calling for removal from office of the Dilma-Temer ticket moves forward.

• Saturday, December 24th 2016 - 15:24 UTC

  Brazilian Army chief anticipates an even worse political ethical situation in 2017

  

  Brazil's commander in chief of the Army, General Eduardo Villas Boas anticipates that the current situation described as “political, economic but above all ethical” will worsen during 2017, which he said will be reflected in the Defense ministry budget and salaries of Armed Forces members.