
Finance Minister Joaquim Levy has not resigned and will stay in his post, Brazil's government said on Friday, denying a media report that he planned to step down in a dispute over austerity measures. A finance ministry spokeswoman told reporters that Levy continues to work and is committed to improve the country's future.

Fitch Ratings cut Brazil's credit rating to the brink of junk, warning the country could soon lose its coveted investment grade rating as government finances deteriorate amid a prolonged recession and persistent political uncertainty.

Petrobras announced a further hydrocarbon discovery at the giant pre-salt Libra field in the Santos basin, offshore Brazil. The company said that well 3-BRSA-1310-RJS, in the central portion of the block, identified the presence of hydrocarbons in a low-porosity reservoir. This is the fourth well drilled in the Libra area since exploratory drilling began last August.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has accused her opponents of trying to overthrow a democratically elected government by seeking to oust her without any material facts while spreading hatred and intolerance across the country.

Brazil's state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA will raise $2 billion through a 10-year leasing contract with China's Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Leasing, the Brazilian company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff won a temporary reprieve on Tuesday from threatened impeachment thanks to a Supreme Court intervention and her principal opponent's decision to hold off for now on opening proceedings.

Brazil is still by far the largest economy in Latin America despite its recession and the impact of the devaluation of the Real, according to the latest report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which said Venezuela dropped to the position of the region’s seventh-largest economy with a GDP that’s now half the size of Colombia’s.

The speaker of Brazil's lower house of Congress ruled out resigning in response to pressure from colleagues over allegations that he took bribes and stashed the money in Swiss bank accounts.

Damage from the gargantuan corruption scandal centered on Brazilian state oil company Petrobras could amount to as much as 20 billion Reais ($5.3 billion), a lead prosecutor revealed last week.

The president Dilma Rousseff administration is geared to “preparing the country to deal with a new international reality”, Brazilian Finance Minister Joaquim Levy told Reuters in an interview on Saturday.