Brazil

• Thursday, September 6th 2012 - 06:35 UTC

  Patriota defends Mercosur decisions on Paraguay before the Brazilian congress

  

  Brazilian Foreign minister Antonio Patriota strongly defended the decision to suspend Paraguay from Mercosur following the removal of Fernando Lugo from the presidency, as well as the incorporation of Venezuela as full member of the trade group.

• Thursday, September 6th 2012 - 04:04 UTC

  Brazil August inflation relatively stable, but food prices could change the picture

  

  Brazil's annual inflation remained relatively stable in August, and was broadly in line with economists' forecast, data released by statistical office IBGE. The consumer price index increased 5.24% on an annual basis in August, just ahead of the 5.2% recorded in July.

• Thursday, September 6th 2012 - 03:51 UTC

  Brazil excels in many fields but also in crack and cocaine consumption

  

  Brazil is the world's largest market for crack and the second for overall cocaine use, researchers from the Federal University of Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) said on Wednesday.

• 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.