Get our news on your inbox! x

Remember me Forgot password

MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, October 25th 2025 - 19:30 UTC

Brazil

  • Thursday, July 23rd 2015 - 08:02 UTC

    Brazil slashes fiscal savings' goals for 2015 and 2016 on plunging tax revenue

    “The target revision should not be taken as a sign that we are abandoning the fiscal adjustment” said Finance Minister Joaquim Levy

    Brazil dramatically lowered its fiscal savings goals for 2015 and 2016 on Wednesday due to plunging tax revenues, and announced new spending cuts to underscore its commitment to austerity. The government cut its primary surplus goal for this year to 8.7 billion reais ($2.70 billion), or 0.15% of GDP, from 66.3 billion reais, the equivalent of 1.1% of GDP, originally budgeted.

  • Wednesday, July 22nd 2015 - 07:34 UTC

    Dilma almost KO: 84.6% don't believe she can handle the economy and 62.8% want her impeached

    The number of respondents who favor Rousseff's impeachment over a massive kickback scandal at Petrobras has risen to 62.8% from 59.7% four months ago.

    Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's popularity slumped to a new low and support for her impeachment grew amid a deepening corruption scandal and a severe economic downturn, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday.

  • Tuesday, July 21st 2015 - 05:42 UTC

    Three Brazilian top executives convicted in relation with Petrobras corruption

    Convictions came the day Federal Police decided to formally accuse Marcelo Odebrecht, CEO of Odebrecht SA, of having a role in the scandal.

    Three executives of Brazil's Camargo Correa group were convicted of money laundering, corruption and other charges, the first construction-industry executives to be sentenced in a giant price fixing and bribery scandal involving state-run oil company Petrobras.

  • Monday, July 20th 2015 - 07:30 UTC

    Brazil's Levy warns that relaxing spending cuts will only extend the pain

    Interviewed by Folha de Sao Paulo Levy said that reducing the surplus target “will bring about more costs for the country, no doubt about it”

    Brazil's Finance minister Joaquim Levy warned that any attempt to relax spending-reduction goals for this year would inevitably extend the duration of the current fiscal adjustment program. The statement was made on Sunday in a long interview with one of Brazil's leading dailies, Folha de Sao Paulo.

  • Monday, July 20th 2015 - 07:17 UTC

    Petrobras working to match domestic and international fuel prices

    The gap between local and international fuel prices led Petrobras to accumulate debts in recent years as it imported gasoline and diesel and sold them at a loss.

    Brazil's Petrobras is working to bring domestic diesel and gasoline prices into parity with international levels in order to attract downstream buyers or partners. The oil and gas giant needs to sell assets to survive a combination of mounting debt, low oil prices and a giant corruption scandal.

  • Saturday, July 18th 2015 - 08:10 UTC

    Rousseff, ever so weakened and isolated warns of “anti democratic adventures”

    Rousseff comments came just hours after the speaker of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha, broke ties with her government

    Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff told regional peers on Friday there is no room for “anti-democratic adventures” in South America, a day after the speaker of Brazil's lower house said he was weighing legal arguments for her impeachment. Speaking to the heads of state of Mercosur, Rousseff said political leaders should strive for dialogue to resolve ideological differences.

  • Friday, July 17th 2015 - 07:44 UTC

    The man who silenced Maracana in 1950 passes away with full honors

    Ghiggia at the time was 22 and admits on scoring the second decisive goal (2 -1) he didn't realize until much later what a monumental feat had been achieved.

    “Only three people silenced Maracana: the Pope, Frank Sinatra and me”. The comment belongs to Alcides Ghiggia, Uruguay's last member and striker of the team that beat Brazil in the World Football Cup final of 1950 and thus winning the Jules Rimet Cup. It would be Uruguay's second world cup: the first in 1930 when it beat Argentina.

  • Friday, July 17th 2015 - 04:48 UTC

    Brazil's corruption scandals reach Lula da Silva: probe into influence peddling

    The probe targets Lula's alleged use of his clout after leaving office to help construction giant Odebrecht land billion-dollar contracts in Latam and Africa.

    Prosecutors in Brazil have announced a probe into possible influence peddling by former president Lula da Silva, involving the construction firm Odebrecht which is one of Latin America's largest engineering company. The investigation will center on Lula's alleged use of his clout after leaving office to help scandal-ridden construction giant Odebrecht land billion-dollar contracts in Latin America and Africa.

  • Wednesday, July 15th 2015 - 08:10 UTC

    Mercosur summit in Brasilia with a conflicting agenda; Paraguay takes chair

    President Dilma Rousseff faced with a serious recession is trying to increase the scope of markets for Brazilian exports

    Mercosur will be holding its half year presidential summit in Brasilia next Thursday and Friday, an event which will expose an abundance of trade and political conflicts, discrepancies and recurrent challenges despite all its members commitment to integration. Besides full members, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela and Brazil, leaders from Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Guyana and Surinam have also been announced.

  • Wednesday, July 15th 2015 - 06:25 UTC

    Petrobras board member criticizes oil-exploration and local content policies

    Castello Branco said the local-content rules create a situation that favors the formation of cartels.

    Brazil's oil-exploration and local-content policies harm Petrobras and the country as a whole, a government-appointed member of the state-run company's board said on Tuesday. The comments were made by Roberto Castello Branco, who was named earlier this year by President Dilma Rousseff's administration to be one of the government's seven representatives on Petrobras board.