Brazil’s trade surplus fell more than economists expected in January from a month earlier as exports declined at a faster pace than imports. The surplus narrowed to 424 million USD last month from 5.37 billion in December, said the Trade Ministry.
Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rousseff admitted her administration would take all the necessary measures possible to prevent the Brazilian Real from increasing its value vis-à-vis the US dollar, according to reports from the Sao Paulo press that interviewed the successor of President Lula da Silva in the recent G-20 summit in Korea.
Italy's Fiat will invest 10 billion Reais (USD 6 billion) in Brazil by 2015 in operations that include production of cars, auto parts and agricultural machinery.
Brazil doubled this week the tax on foreign investors buying local bonds or making deposits in fixed returns in an attempt to curb a currency rally that has turned into an issue in the country's presidential race.