Beijing has come to the rescue of Brazil's slumping economy with trade, finance and investment deals worth at least 53 billion dollars in energy, mining, aviation and upgrading of dilapidated infrastructure.
A widening investigation into alleged corruption at Brazil’s state-controlled oil giant Petrobras took a step closer to President Dilma Rousseff on Wednesday when police arrested the ruling party’s treasurer, João Vaccari Neto, who has been charged with receiving “irregular donations” for the Workers’ Party, or PT, from some of the oil company’s suppliers.
Brazilian police arrested on Friday three former congressmen broadening their corruption investigation beyond state-run oil giant Petrobras to state lender Caixa Economica Federal and the federal health ministry.
Prosecutors who uncovered Brazil's biggest corruption case called for tougher prison sentences and more legal powers to crack down on rampant graft that costs taxpayers more than the annual budget for education and health.
Brazil's opposition has announced that it will ask the Supreme Federal Court to investigate President Dilma Rousseff for the Petrobras corruption scandal in which her party's treasurer Joao Vacari is also implicated.
Moody's Investors Service lowered this week the long-term issuer ratings of Brazilian state banks BNDES and Caixa Econômica Federal, citing their eroding capital position after years of rapid credit expansion, but spared the also government controlled Banco do Brasil.