Brazil is estimated to have lost the equivalent of 27.8 billion US dollars in investments from domestic and international corporations as a direct consequence of the global recession, according to press reports from Sao Paulo.
Spanish oil company Repsol anounced this week the discovery of traces of hydrocarbons at a deepwater well being drilled off the Brazilian coast. In an official statement Repsol said the well was completed in Block BM-S-48, located in the Santos Basin off the coast of the south-eastern state of Sao Paulo.
Brazil's president Lula da Silva said on Friday he would like to talk with US president elect Barack Obama before the government machine gets hold of him and expected the incoming leader would change his vision on Latinamerica and acknowledge the advance of regional democracy.
Brazilian farm exports totalled a record 71.9 billion US dollars in 2008, up 23% over 2007, according to the latest reports from the Ministry of Agriculture. Farm exports also reported a surplus of 60 billion US dollars last year while agro-business represented 36.3% of all of the country's shipments.
Brazil will temporarily shut down power plants fired by natural gas from Bolivia and will reduce imports of the Bolivian fuel through the end of April, announced Mines and Energy mister Edison Lobao.
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.