Brazil

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 19:29 UTC

  Collapse of a 35bn dollars empire; Brazil’s Eike Batista defaulted on 45 million interest payment

  

  Two days ago, former Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista crossed a line. He started to default on a 45 million dollars interest payments on his oil and gas company, OGX's, bonds. The default will be official on October 30th, according to Bloomberg. That leaves bondholders, like PIMCO, the largest bond fund in the world helmed by legendary investor Bill Gross, taking a massive hit. And what's worse is that there could be more to come, according to the Wall Street Journal.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 19:23 UTC

  Brazil, a giant but with “a lot of fat and much in the way of muscle”

  

  Brazil, Latin America's largest economy is in dire need of structural reforms and reduced government bloat to fuel sustainable growth, analysts say. And this will not happen overnight and will take massive political will. A giant but it carries “a lot of fat and not much in the way of muscle”.

• Thursday, October 3rd 2013 - 19:17 UTC

  Moody’s lowers Brazil’s credit rating to stable from positive: rising debt and weak growth

  

  Brazil’s currency Real declined from its highest level in two weeks after Moody’s Investors Service cited rising debt and weak growth in lowering its outlook on the country’s credit rating to stable from positive.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 22:51 UTC

  Brazil oil and gas output reached an average of 2.495 million boepd during August

  

  Brazil's oil and natural gas output rose for the second time in three months in August as new output from giant offshore fields barely outpaced declines from the depletion of older areas and maintenance, oil industry watchdog ANP said this week.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 22:50 UTC

  Rousseff names top military officer as head of the Olympic Public Authority

  

  President Dilma Rousseff nominated a senior army officer to fill one of the top roles in organizing the 2016 summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Major General Fernando Azevedo e Silva’s appointment to head the Olympic Public Authority, which coordinates the work of state and local governments, has gone to Brazil’s senate to be ratified, the nation’s official gazette said.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 16:22 UTC

  Chevron reaches negotiated settlement in Brazil oil spill case after two year legal battle

  

  A Brazilian federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit against US oil company Chevron Corp after approving a negotiated settlement, a decision that closes a nearly two-year legal battle over an oil spill in November 2011.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 16:11 UTC

  Petrobras readies 60th anniversary announcing a million barrels production increase by next year

  

  Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras, which will mark its 60th anniversary on Thursday, has announced it will increase production by 50% in an effort to overcome the current situation. Nine production units now being installed will pump an additional one million barrels a day beginning next year said Petrobras CEO María das Graças Foster.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 08:22 UTC

  Rousseff reminds Cartes that Paraguay belongs to Mercosur and is strategic for Brazil

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff received her peer from Paraguay, Horacio Cartes with full head of state honours but at the same time reminded him that Paraguay is a full member of Mercosur and “bilateral relations are in the context of multilateral relations with all countries of the hemisphere”.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 07:54 UTC

  Brazil central bank admits “a lot of work must be done” to bring down inflation

  

  Inflation in Brazil will remain stubbornly high well into 2015 even as the economy struggles to gain steam, the central bank said in its quarterly inflation report. The bank also revised down its estimate for economic growth to 2.5% for this year from a previous 2.7% forecast. The bank sees growth keeping that pace until the second quarter of 2014.

• Wednesday, October 2nd 2013 - 07:51 UTC

  Brazil posts first August primary budget deficit in over ten years

  

  Brazil posted its first primary budget deficit for the month of August in more than a decade, central bank data showed on Monday, pointing to a deterioration in the country's finances that is worrying investors and rating agencies.