Brazil

• Saturday, January 26th 2013 - 21:23 UTC

  Lagarde surprised at the ‘very slow’ recovery of the Brazilian economy

  

  IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said she is unsure about Brazil’s economic outlook despite the country’s official estimate of 3.5% growth this year, since recovery is “very slow” as the 1% of 2012 showed.

• Saturday, January 26th 2013 - 20:44 UTC

  Mercosur/Paraguay controversy reaches EU/CELAC summit in Chile

  

  Chile confirmed that Paraguay finally decided not to attend the EU/CELAC summit in Chile putting an end to a controversy when it emerged that several Mercosur and Unasur members insisted that the landlocked country should not be invited.

• Friday, January 25th 2013 - 07:49 UTC

  Brazil’s Vale suspends ‘indefinitely’ 6bn potash project in Argentina

  

  Brazil’s government managed Vale and the world’s third-largest mining company, suspended works at its 6 billion dollars potash project in Argentina indefinitely. A suspension at the Rio Colorado potash project in the Argentine province of Mendoza since last month will be maintained, the Rio de Janeiro-based company said in an e-mail.

• Friday, January 25th 2013 - 07:34 UTC

  Brazil development bank plans to invest almost a trillion dollars in next three years

  

  Brazil’s Social and Economic Development Bank (BNDES) has plans to invest 1.858 trillion Reais (approx 906bn dollars) between 2013 and 2016. In 2012, total investments amounted to approximately 156 billion Reais, up 12% compared to 2011, and a total of 2.394 trillion Reais was invested between 2008 and 2012.

• Friday, January 25th 2013 - 04:43 UTC

  Monsanto reaches agreement on patent royalties with Brazilian soybean farmers

  

  Monsanto the world’s biggest seed company agreed to waive two years of royalties on its Roundup Ready soybean seeds for Brazilian farmers who agree to forgo claims in a patent dispute.

• Friday, January 25th 2013 - 04:38 UTC

  Dengue kills 16 in Paraguay where 13.000 cases have been reported

  

  Paraguay’s health authorities have reported that sixteen people have died of dengue disease since the beginning of the year, ten directly infected and the other six as a consequence of other complications.

• Friday, January 25th 2013 - 04:10 UTC

  EU and Brazil agree on a “speedy conclusion” of the trade pact with Mercosur

  

  Brazilian and European leaders called on Thursday for the speedy conclusion of a free trade and cooperation agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. The call for action was made as Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff hosted European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

• Friday, January 25th 2013 - 04:05 UTC

  “Turn the lights on” electricity rates are down Rousseff tells fellow Brazilians

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced this week a deeper-than-expected cut in electricity rates, hoping to contain a recent spike in inflation, give manufacturers a boost and prop the flat economy.

• Thursday, January 24th 2013 - 07:55 UTC

  “Biotic” additives nutritionally feasible as growth promoters in animal husbandry

  

  Research in Brazil has revealed that so-called 'biotic' additives are nutritionally feasible replacements for growth promoters and the animal husbandry indices of animals treated with these additives were similar to those of animals fed the normal rations and the use of additives contributed to improvements in the meat quality.

• Thursday, January 24th 2013 - 01:14 UTC

  Brazilian industry claims Mercosur is ‘paralyzed’ and blasts Argentina’s ‘illegal barriers’ on trade

  

  Brazil’s powerful manufacturers’ lobby openly criticized the “illegal barriers” imposed by the government of President Cristina Fernandez on Brazilian produce, and also lashed at President Dilma Rousseff for her administration’s “permissive attitude” towards Buenos Aires, a position that has “paralyzed Mercosur”.