The powerful manufacturers lobby, Sao Paulo’s Industry Federation, Fiesp believes a free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union is very much needed so that Latam’s largest economy climbs out from the “commercial isolation” in which it currently stands.
The Brazilian state development bank BNDES is “overbooked” and needs the private sector to step up funding in investments, according to bank president Luciano Coutinho. Lending by BNDES and other public banks has increased six times faster than credit by non-state bank this year, as the government tries to fuel economic growth.
The year 2013 is a special one for researches in the northern region of Brazil: the Ferreira Penna Scientific Station, research base of the Emílio Goeldi museum and research unit of the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, completes 20 years of existence.
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly Brazilian President Dilma Roussef claimed that spying in the lives and affairs of other countries is a breach of international law and urged the United Nations to play a leading role in protecting Internet users from illegal interception of communications and data, and decried recent allegations of electronic information spying as “serious violations of human rights”.
Brazil’s central bank chief Alexandre Tombini said on Monday policy makers will continue with their 60 billion dollars currency intervention plan, even after the Real rallied more than any other currency in the world as a consequence of the surprise announcement from the US Fed that for the moment it will not taper the bonds’ buying program to stimulate the US economy
Brazil’s main stock exchange Bovespa is implementing changes to its benchmark Ibovespa stock index, the first since 1968, in an effort to correct recent distortions and better reflect the performance of local shares.
Brazil’s government is planning to give a boost to state-run oil company Petróleo Brasileiro by financing its participation in the October 21 auction of Libra, the country’s largest-ever oil discovery, the O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper reported over the weekend.
Delays are plaguing work at airports in seven of the 12 Brazilian cities that will host the World Cup nine months from now, the daily O Globo reported Sunday. Citing a survey by Infraero, the federal airports agency, the paper said the worst delay was in the southern city of Porto Alegre, where work on expanding terminal at a cost of 69 million dollars has not even begun.
Argentina’s Hector Timerman and Brazil’s new Foreign minister Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado discussed a long agenda of common interest issues during a work meeting held in Buenos Aires, which included Mercosur, trade discussions with Europe, Unasur, Haiti and US cyber-spying in the region among other issues.
Brazil's government is considering lowering import duties in the next planned review of regional bloc Mercosur tariffs, which is scheduled to take place in January, Trade Minister Fernando Pimentel announced this week.