Brazilian state oil company Petrobras exported in December an average of 620,000 barrels of crude per day, establishing a new record.
Brazilian president Lula da Silva warned of a worrisome and tough first quarter but promised the government is prepared to inject more resources to the economy to help combat the effects of the global crisis and stimulate activity.
In response to the collapse of commodity prices and demand giant Australian-UK minerals corporation Rio Tinto announced the postponement of one of its key iron ore expansion projects, the 2.15 billion US dollars Corumba mine in the heartland of Brazil.
Brazil's greatest living architect Oscar Niemeyer has presented the blueprint for a new project, The Sovereignty Plaza to be built next to the Ministries esplanade in Brasilia. The official opening is scheduled for April 21st, 2010 when the capital city he designed will be celebrating half a century.
Brazil has 43 million Internet users, according to Ibope/NetRatings statistics for the year 2008 published in the business daily Valor. The number of cybernauts could be even greater since the statistics included only people over 16 with Web access from home, workplaces, schools, libraries and Internet cafes, the newspaper said.
Plans to surround a Rio de Janeiro favela (slum) with a 650-metre-long concrete barrier have come under fire from environmentalists, human rights activists and residents who describe it as discriminatory and in the best Gaza wall style.
Yet another bank cut the 2009 economic growth forecast for Brazil: JPMorgan Chase & Co. downed Latinamerica's largest economy expansion estimate for this year from 2% to 1.5%, as global recession takes its toll on industrial production and business confidence.
Brazil's crops of corn and soybean has been downgraded from previous forecasts because of the persistent drought in the southern states, said on Thursday the country's Ministry of Agriculture.
The share of total assets held by Brazil's five largest banks rose to 65.72% at the close of 2008, up more than 13 percentage points from the end of the previous year, according to Central bank figures quoted by financial and business daily Valor.
Brazil plans to double the number of troops along the borders of its vast Amazon rain forest area in the framework of the Protecting Amazon project, reported O Estado de Sao Paulo” this weekend.