Brazil

• Thursday, September 6th 2012 - 03:34 UTC

  Brazil among the 50 most competitive nations according to WEF report

  

  For the first time, Brazil is among the group of the 50 most competitive nations in the world, says the Global Competitiveness Report, released by the World Economic Forum.

• Thursday, September 6th 2012 - 03:30 UTC

  Brazil sold 1.25bn dollar global bonds due in 2013 at lowest borrowing cost ever

  

  Brazil on Wednesday sold 1.25 billion in dollar-denominated global bonds due in 2023, at the cheapest borrowing costs ever from foreign investors. High demand allowed the government to improve financing conditions by lowering the bond's yield spread over comparable US Treasury debt to 110 basis points from an initial 115 basis points.

• Wednesday, September 5th 2012 - 05:40 UTC

  Brazil applies 25% tariff increase on 100 imported goods; another 100 list in the making

  

  The Brazilian government approved a 25% tariff increase on an additional list of 100 goods from outside Mercosur and at the same time announced the implementation of a monitoring scheme for those items’ prices in the domestic market to avoid unduly increases.

• Wednesday, September 5th 2012 - 05:34 UTC

  Several heavy players after Marfrig assets, which has to reduce debt

  

  Marfrig Alimentos SA, Brazil’s second-biggest food company, is attracting the interest of Blackstone Group LP and Tyson Foods Inc. for a plan to sell a stake, three people with direct knowledge of the talks said.

• Wednesday, September 5th 2012 - 01:07 UTC

  President Rousseff hints to further stimuli measures for manufacturing sector

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said her government would continue with the policy of reducing labour costs to favour companies and improve their competitiveness and hinted that new initiatives referred to power costs for industry could be in the pipeline.

• Wednesday, September 5th 2012 - 01:01 UTC

  Tax cuts and lower rates help record car sales in Brazil during August: 400.00 units

  

  Brazil car sales rose to a record 400,000 units in August as tax cuts and lower borrowing costs spur consumer spending. Fiat, the country’s biggest automaker, said that tax cuts that took effect in May and were extended last week through October spurred industry sales of cars and light vehicles last month.

• Wednesday, September 5th 2012 - 00:52 UTC

  Brazilian industrial production up 0.3% in July, but still unconvincing

  

  Brazilian industrial production rose a stronger-than-expected 0.3% in July from June, government statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday. July was the second positive number following three straight months of declining output.

• Wednesday, September 5th 2012 - 00:35 UTC

  Tourist arrivals in Chile keep growing but concentrated on Argentina and Brazil

  

  International arrivals in Chile in the first half of the year showed a significant growth of 15% compared to the same period a year before, having totalled 1.850.048 tourists, according to the Chilean Tourism Barometer compiled by Fedetur, the Federation of Tourism companies from Chile.

• Tuesday, September 4th 2012 - 06:15 UTC

  Rousseff comes out in defence of a very much questioned Lula da Silva legacy

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has come out in defence of her predecessor and political mentor Lula de Silva who was the target of strong criticisms from another former president Fernando Enrique Cardoso.

• Tuesday, September 4th 2012 - 00:25 UTC

  Nearly 11.500 humpback whales counted off the coast of Brazil

  

  Whales are returning to the coast of Brazil. Last year, nearly 11,500 humpback whales were counted off the coast of Brazil - a new record, the Baleia Jubarte Institute cheered on Sunday in a report.