Brazil

• Saturday, June 30th 2012 - 04:45 UTC

  Unasur suspends Paraguay; names Peru at the group’s pro-tempore presidency

  

  Unasur, Union of South American nations on Friday suspended Paraguay from the group following the ouster of the country's former president, Fernando Lugo. The decision was adopted at an extraordinary meeting in Mendoza, Argentina where earlier in the day Mercosur members adopted a similar measure.

• Saturday, June 30th 2012 - 03:52 UTC

  Mercosur ‘suspended’ Paraguay feels free to establish trade links with other countries

  

  President Federico Franco announced in a press conference that if Paraguay is suspended from Mercosur the country will feel free to look for other trade agreements and international relations.

• Saturday, June 30th 2012 - 03:43 UTC

  Mercosur Secretary General resigns and walks out from the Mendoza summit

  

  Mercosur Secretary General Samuel Pinheiro Guimaraes resigned to his post in the midst of the Mendoza summit following a strong exchange with the group of Foreign Ministers, indicated reports from Buenos Aires.

• Friday, June 29th 2012 - 06:19 UTC

  Former impeached Brazilian president argues the “process in Paraguay was legal”

  

  The removal of Fernando Lugo from the Paraguayan Executive office was legal, said Brazilian former president and Senator Fernando Collor, quoted by O’Globo. He insisted there was “no coup”.

• Friday, June 29th 2012 - 05:16 UTC

  Rousseff unveils 55bn dollars in loans at lower rates for the 2012/13 farm season

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has unveiled a 115-billion-Reais (55 billion dollars) loan program aimed at reinforcing agriculture's role as a lever of Brazilian economic growth.

• Thursday, June 28th 2012 - 21:46 UTC

  Mantega insists Brazil economy picks up in second half and reaches 2.5% annual growth

  

  Brazil's government has taken measures so that economic growth reaches at least 2.5% in 2012, said Finance Minister Guido Mantega following the announcement of new economic stimulus measures that are expected to accelerate the economy in the second half of the year.

• Thursday, June 28th 2012 - 21:39 UTC

  Moody’s downgrades 11 Brazilian banks ratings which could be exposed to a debt crisis

  

  US rating agency Moody's had downgraded the ratings of 11 Brazilian banks by one to three notches, almost all of them to the level of Brazil's sovereign credit rating.

• Wednesday, June 27th 2012 - 21:56 UTC

  Brazil going “to bus” its way out of the economic slowdown

  

  The Brazilian government plans to buy over a third of the country’s output of buses and reduce borrowing costs for state-funded investments to a record as part of a new round of measures to revive stalled growth.

• Tuesday, June 26th 2012 - 03:49 UTC

  Major change in Petrobras exploration policy looking to diversity from two main basins

  

  Brazil’s Petrobras which has become the world’s biggest deepwater oil producer is looking past its largest discoveries to avoid a fate similar to Mexico, where output has plummeted 25% since 2004.

• Tuesday, June 26th 2012 - 01:33 UTC

  Mercosur and Unasur leaders to hold a joint discussion next Friday in Mendoza

  

  Chilean president Sebastián Piñera revealed that next Friday during the regular Mercosur summit, the leaders of Unasur member states are scheduled to hold an extraordinary meeting to jointly address the political crisis in Paraguay triggered by the removal of President Fernando Lugo.