Brazil

• Thursday, July 30th 2009 - 06:27 UTC

  Brazil’s budget deficit widens but should begin to recover by end of 2009

  

  Brazil’s nominal budget deficit for the first half of 2009 widened to 43.7 billion Reais (23 billion US dollars), the largest since 2001, according to the latest release from the Central Bank.

• Thursday, July 30th 2009 - 06:19 UTC

  Argentina and Brazil agree to continue disagreeing (less intensely) in trade issues

  

  Brazil and Argentina reached “relatively productive” results following the Sao Paulo meeting of the bilateral trade monitoring committee to address the ongoing restrictions imposed by Argentina to Brazilian exports, according to diplomatic sources from both sides.

• Wednesday, July 29th 2009 - 12:18 UTC

  Dry wells controversy erupts in Brazil’s sub-salt basins drilling

  

  Brazilian government managed oil corporation Petrobras said late Tuesday in an official release that it has drilled eleven wells in the promising Santos Basin region, with all of the wells testing positive for oil or natural gas.

• Tuesday, July 28th 2009 - 07:12 UTC

  Less Bolivian gas production as Brazilian demand falls

  

  Brazil has reduced its demand for Bolivian natural gas to 24 million cubic meters per day, prompting a drop in production, according to reports in the La Paz press.

• Tuesday, July 28th 2009 - 03:28 UTC

  Brazil insists on the political angle of the Itaipú agreement

  

  The Brazilian presidency advisor in international affairs Marco Aurelio García said that the agreement between Brazil and Paraguay regarding the surplus power from the shared Itaipú hydroelectric dam (operationally the largest in the world) is “most important” and helps to normalize bilateral relations.

• Monday, July 27th 2009 - 12:35 UTC

  Brazil agrees to treble payment for Paraguay’s energy from Itaipú

  

  Brazil and Paraguay agreed over the weekend on an amicable solution to a decade long dispute over a hydro-electric dam on their shared border, with Brazil agreeing to triple the amount it pays its neighbour for energy.

• Saturday, July 25th 2009 - 11:53 UTC

  Argentina and Brazil will address “trade differences” in Sao Paulo

  

  Argentina and Brazil agreed to hold talks next week to address the ongoing trade differences which threaten to sour the bilateral relation. The meeting of Presidents Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Lula da Silva was held on the sidelines of the Friday Mercosur summit in Paraguay.

• Friday, July 24th 2009 - 14:20 UTC

  Brazil to complain UK “dumping” of 1.000 tons of hazardous waste

  

  The Brazilian government said it will lodge a formal complaint with the World Trade Organisation over shipments of more than 1,000 tons of hazardous waste which arrived from Britain

• Thursday, July 23rd 2009 - 14:55 UTC

  Controversy as Israeli Foreign Minister begins South American tour

  

  Israel's foreign minister ran into controversy on the first day of a Latinamerican trip when an official of Brazil's ruling party reportedly called him a “fascist”. Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that Valter Pomar, secretary of international relations for the Workers Party, described Avigdor Lieberman as “a racist and a fascist” during an interview

• Thursday, July 23rd 2009 - 14:45 UTC

  Australia’s conflict with China favours Brazilian iron-ore sales

  

  Spot iron-ore vessel bookings from Brazil to China jumped to a record in July as Australia suspended spot sales following detentions of Rio Tinto's top sales officials in China, reports Reuters.