Brazil

• Thursday, May 23rd 2013 - 19:23 UTC

  Brazil freezes budget outlays in an effort to meet its primary surplus target

  

  Brazil has frozen 28 billion Reais (approx 13.7 billion dollars) in its 2013 budget as it tries to meet its primary surplus target, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Thursday in Brasilia. President Dilma Rousseff’s administration is trying to meet targeted primary surplus goal of 155.9 billion Reais without undermining economic growth.

• Wednesday, May 22nd 2013 - 23:03 UTC

  US airline closes 4bn dollars deal with Brazil’s Embraer for 40 commuter aircraft

  

  United Airlines partner SkyWest Inc. agreed to buy more than 4 billion dollars of Brazil’s Embraer jets as new pilot contracts at the largest carriers allow commuter operators to fly bigger planes.

• Wednesday, May 22nd 2013 - 17:47 UTC

  Merkel and Brazil’s Rousseff the most powerful women in the world, according to Forbes

  

  German Chancellor Angela Merkel topped Forbes's list of the world's most powerful women for the third consecutive year, followed by Brazil's Dilma Rousseff, the magazine said on Wednesday. Cristina Fernandez from Argentina dropped ten places and now stands in position 26.

• Tuesday, May 21st 2013 - 06:22 UTC

  Brazil main opposition party elects a new leader and 2014 presidential hopeful

  

  Brazilian opposition unified over the weekend behind Aecio Neves who was elected by a landslide president of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party, PSDB. His naming opens the way for his candidacy to the 2014 presidential election, when President Dilma Rousseff will be bidding for another four years.

• Monday, May 20th 2013 - 22:22 UTC

  Brazil opens ports to private investment hoping to ease bottlenecks strangling exports growth

  

  Brazil’s Congress approved legislation that opens up state-owned ports to private investment and lifts restrictions on the building of private ports in a bid to eliminate serious bottlenecks strangling the country’s export growth. The Brazilian Association of Infrastructure and Basic Industries praised the approval of the bill and anticipate investment of 25bn dollars.

• Monday, May 20th 2013 - 19:47 UTC

  Brazil trapped by Argentina and Venezuela economic mismanagements

  

  Brazil’s main financial newspaper Valor Economico revealed that the recent summit between Presidents Cristina Fernandez and Dilma Rousseff from Argentina and Brazil was far from polite and enlightening, rather the contrary with “strong disagreements in the fields of trade and investment” shaking the foundations of Mercosur.

• Saturday, May 18th 2013 - 01:11 UTC

  UK attends with 28 companies the largest healthcare exhibition in Sao Paulo

  

  UK Government Minister Ken Clarke is leading the UK's largest ever Healthcare Technology and Life Sciences delegation to Brazil. Twenty eight companies will travel to Sao Paulo to attend Hospitalar (21 – 24 May), the largest healthcare exhibition in South America, which is expecting to attract around 90,000 visitors – as well as taking part in the trade mission.

• Wednesday, May 15th 2013 - 17:24 UTC

  Brazilian Finance ministry top official resigns after ten years in office

  

  Brazil's Deputy Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa, who helped design some of the government's flagship economic projects, has handed in his resignation for personal reasons and will leave the post in June, the ministry announced on Monday.

• Wednesday, May 15th 2013 - 06:50 UTC

  BP and Total win exploration rights in virgin waters of Brazil’s Amazon basin

  

  BP and Total, Europe’s biggest oil companies after Shell, won exploration rights in the Amazon basin as Brazil’s first oil auction in five years attracts a record level of bids. Total, based in Paris, gained exploration access to operate five blocks at the Foz do Amazonas basin in northern Brazil together with partners BP and Petrobras, the oil regulator said on Tuesday.

• Tuesday, May 14th 2013 - 23:00 UTC

  New WTO chief says it’s time for ‘modulating’ ambition and pushing protectionism back

  

  Brazil’s Roberto Azevedo vowed to revive the deadlocked World Trade Organisation, as he was confirmed this week as the incoming leader of the body which sets the rules for global commerce.