Brazil

• Saturday, September 6th 2014 - 06:27 UTC

  Brazil's industrial activity shows the economy if far from a strong recovery

  

  Industrial-activity data released this week added to worries that Brazil's economy, already in recession, is far from a strong recovery. The trade group National Confederation of Industry, CNI, said revenue for the Brazilian manufacturing sector fell 5.1% in July from a year earlier and rose 1.2% from June.

• Saturday, September 6th 2014 - 03:04 UTC

  Marina Silva's lead turns Dilma more aggressive in her re-election bid

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has adopted a more combative re-election campaign strategy after opinion polls showed her trailing popular environmentalist candidate Marina Silva. Two election surveys this week showed Rousseff was the frontrunner in the first round ballot scheduled for October 5, but would lose to Silva, a former environment minister, in a likely runoff.

• Friday, September 5th 2014 - 02:14 UTC

  Brazil leaves basic interest rate unchanged at 11%, given 'inflation prospects'

  

  With Brazil battling recession and inflation a month away from the presidential election, the Central bank kept its key interest rate on hold at 11%. Traders and analysts had forecast no change and the central bank's monetary policy commission (Copom) duly decided to leave all quiet following its monthly two-day meeting.

• Tuesday, September 2nd 2014 - 22:45 UTC

  Argentina/Brazil bilateral trade drops to 2010 level. Auto industry hardest hit

  

  Bilateral trade between Mercosur leading partners Argentina and Brazil plummeted 27.6% in August and 22% in the last twelve months, according to Buenos Aires consultants, Abeceb. Recession in Brazil plus strict Argentine trade restrictions and slower domestic demand has contributed to the results.

• Monday, September 1st 2014 - 14:05 UTC

  Ascending Marina Silva ties with Dilma and polarizes the 5 October election

  

  Presidential candidate Marina Silva has widened her lead over President Dilma Rousseff to 10 percentage points in what could be a likely runoff in Brazil's October election, a survey by polling firm Datafolha showed on Friday.

• Saturday, August 30th 2014 - 11:49 UTC

  Marina pledges to restore Brazil credibility and limit spending below growth rate

  

  Opposition presidential candidate Marina Silva said that Brazil's recession is very worrying and her government would work to restore the credibility of the country's economic policies to recover investment and growth if elected. The Brazilian economy fell into recession in the first half of the year, a heavy blow for President Dilma Rousseff's already diminishing hopes of winning re-election in October.

• Saturday, August 30th 2014 - 10:53 UTC

  Brazil in recession; Minister Mantega blames external factors and World Cup

  

  Brazil has fallen into recession, further weakening President Dilma Rousseff, just weeks before voting in what will be a tough re-election battle. Brazil's national statistics institute said Friday GDP shrank 0.6% in the second quarter and revised an initially positive first quarter growth estimate down to -0.2 percent.

• Saturday, August 30th 2014 - 08:24 UTC

  Marina's advisors: economists graduated in Cambridge and MIT and the heir to Brazil's largest bank

  

  Two economists with graduate studies in Cambridge and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a lawyer considered one of the most influential members of Congress and with a PhD from Oxford, plus the heir of a banking empire, the largest in Brazil, and philanthropist, are identified as the closest aides and advisors of Marina Silva, with increasing chances of becoming Brazil's next president in October.

• Friday, August 29th 2014 - 06:46 UTC

  Mercosur main partners in another attempt to re-launch withering economies

  

  Argentine Economy minister Axel Kicillof left Buenos Aires on Thursday for Brazil, where he will meet with fellow ministers from the country to discuss the current situation of bilateral trade and the automotive industry.

• Thursday, August 28th 2014 - 06:51 UTC

  Marina leaps ahead in presidential debate; wants brightest minds to join her government

  

  A surging Marina Silva took Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff to task in an election debate Tuesday night when she touted her government's achievements in improving social conditions and defending wages in the midst of global economic crisis.