Brazil

• Thursday, December 1st 2011 - 00:35 UTC

  Mantega to be retained in Brazilian cabinet shuffle expected for January

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff plans to replace a handful of ministers to streamline the cabinet when she completes a year in office in January but the shuffle does not include Finance minister Guido Mantega, according to Planalto sources.

• Wednesday, November 30th 2011 - 23:08 UTC

  Brazil cuts basic rate by half a point to 11% and says inflation converging to target

  

  Brazil’s central bank cut borrowing costs by half a point for a third straight meeting as a global economic slowdown threatens with a slump in domestic demand. The bank’s board voted on Wednesday unanimously to reduce the benchmark Selic rate to 11% from 11.5%, as had been anticipated by markets.

• Tuesday, November 29th 2011 - 17:28 UTC

  Price Index new weightings should help Brazil with inflation target and rate cuts

  

  Brazil’s statistics agency released Monday new weightings for items in its benchmark IPCA price index, adapted to changing family consumption patterns, which should help policymakers fine-tune complying with targets and keep cutting interest rates.

• Tuesday, November 29th 2011 - 15:34 UTC

  UK opens new consulate in Recife, next to northeast Brazil main trade and sea hub

  

  Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne on Tuesday opened a new Consulate General in Recife, Brazil - the city which became home to one of the first ever British missions in South America in 1808.

• Tuesday, November 29th 2011 - 06:14 UTC

  CFK off to Venezuela to meet with Chavez and Dilma Rousseff

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández will hold a bilateral meeting next Friday with her Brazilian counterpart Dilma Rousseff in the framework of the first Latin American and Caribbean States Community Summit (CELAC).

• Monday, November 28th 2011 - 21:10 UTC

  Argentina’s Techint moves strongly into Brazil steel business

  

  The Techint Group agreed to pay 5.03 billion Reais (2.7 billion dollars) for a 27.7% voting stake in Brazil’s Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais to boost access to the largest market for steel in Latin America.

• Sunday, November 27th 2011 - 05:54 UTC

  Petrobras domestic oil production stable at 2m bpd during October

  

  Brazil's government managed oil and gas company Petrobras said on Friday its average October domestic crude output remained stable versus September at 2.00 million barrels per day.

• Sunday, November 27th 2011 - 02:12 UTC

  Amnesty demands action from the Brazilian government following killing of indigenous chief

  

  A deadly attack on an indigenous community in southern Brazil highlights the authorities’ failure to protect indigenous peoples amid ongoing land conflicts, Amnesty International said in an official release last Friday.

• Sunday, November 27th 2011 - 02:06 UTC

  Brazil’s Labour minister closer to the brink on further corruption accusations

  

  Brazil’s Labour minister Carlos Luppi is again under a barrage of accusations from the Sao Paulo press which could definitively make him the sixth toppled cabinet member in less than a year from the government of President Dilma Rousseff on charges of corruption.

• Sunday, November 27th 2011 - 02:02 UTC

  Brazil’s Teixeira targeting to succeed FIFA’s Blatter in 2015, claims local media

  

  The Brazilian media is full of speculation that the current president of the country’s Football Federation, (CBF) Ricardo Teixeira has started to play his cards with the ultimate goal of becoming FIFA chief in 2015,