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Brazil’s real posted its biggest decline in four months, extending its fifth annual drop, as oil prices tumbled and an increase in the minimum wage fueled concern that the country’s fiscal situation will worsen. The currency fell 3.7 percent to 4.0104 per dollar as of 2:03 p.m. in Sao Paulo. The real is the worst... Continue Reading →
Investors who bet on Brazil’s local bonds this year were saddled with the biggest losses among major economies. The outlook for 2016 isn’t much better. Borrowing dollars at the end of 2014 and buying reais, a practice known as the carry trade, left investors with losses of 22 percent as Brazil’s currency posted the second-biggest... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s government has settled overdue payments to state-run banks stemming mostly from budget maneuvers this year and last, which are the basis for impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. The Treasury this year paid 72.4 billion reais ($18.2 billion) it owed state banks such as Banco do Brasil, it said in a statement on Wednesday.... Continue Reading →
Petroleos Mexicanos’s plans last year included joint ventures and higher oil production. For 2016, that’s turned into job cuts and asset sales as it tries to weather the worst downturn in a generation. In Jan. 2014, Chief Executive Officer Emilio Lozoya was optimistic about 2015. He expected the company’s first joint ventures would reverse nine... Continue Reading →
The real was little changed at 3.8606 per dollar as of 10:24 a.m. in Sao Paulo on Tuesday, after earlier gaining as much as 0.2 percent. The currency strengthened the most in eight weeks on Monday amid speculation of inflows linked to an auction of hydropower plants. Monday’s rally trimmed the real’s decline this year... Continue Reading →
Dec 28, 2015 Reuters Dec 28 Brazil's state-controlled Petróleo Brasileiro SA met a $700 million goal for asset sales this year following the divestment of a minority stake in a gas distribution unit to Mitsui & Co Ltd. In a securities filing, the company known as Petrobras said that Mitsui paid on Monday 1.93 billion... Continue Reading →
The central government’s primary budget deficit last month was the worst on record and wider than all but one forecast made by analysts, underscoring the challenges facing Brazil’s Finance Minister Nelson Barbosa as he struggles to win investor confidence. The gap, which excludes interest payments as well as municipalities and government-run companies, was 21.3 billion... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s real led world gains, countering a slide in emerging-market currencies, as dollar inflows from local exporters overshadowed signs of a slowdown in the nation’s top trading partner. The real added 1.4 percent to 3.8883 per dollar at 1:26 p.m. in Sao Paulo, the most among 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg. It had dropped... Continue Reading →
For Brazil, 2015 was never going to be a banner year. But even the pessimists were surprised by how bad it actually turned out to be. Latin America’s largest economy was hit by crisis after crisis: A colossal corruption scandal. The worst recession in a quarter century. A growing fiscal deficit. The arrest of a billionaire... Continue Reading →
The former chief executive officer of Latin America's largest engineering group will be allowed panettone in his jail cell this Christmas. He may even get turkey, as long as it is boneless. For the first sitting Brazilian senator to be jailed in modern times, the season will be equally gloomy. He will spend Christmas Day... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 