Brazilian debt prices took another sharp leg down on Thursday as fears intensified that the sovereign will be demoted to junk-rated territory. Faith in Brazil's ability to get its fiscal house in order is fading as the popularity of President Dilma Rousseff plummets in the polls and Congress resists spending cuts. The latter problem was... Continue Reading →
More Brazilian Lawmakers View Impeachment as Possible Solution
A growing number of legislators in Brazil’s largest party see an impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff as an option to pull the country out of its deepening economic and political crisis. One-third of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party in the lower house is working toward impeachment proceedings within a constitutional framework, said Darcisio Perondi, a... Continue Reading →
‘Worst not over’ for Brazilian economy, says BTG Pactual CEO
Grupo BTG Pactual SA is trimming assets and bolstering regulatory capital ratios in an effort to weather a protracted economic downturn and political crisis in Brazil, its chief executive officer said on Thursday. CEO André Esteves has trimmed both the assets and the loan book of the largest independent emerging markets-based investment bank by 6.7... Continue Reading →
Braskem posts strong profit, offers new Petrobras contract
Brazilian petrochemical giant Braskem SA on Thursday reported a sharp jump in quarterly profit, and its chief executive said it had proposed a flexible new supply contract with state-run oil firm Petrobras . In a press conference to discuss Braskem's second-quarter results, CEO Carlos Fadigas said the company had offered to buy naphtha from Petrobras,... Continue Reading →
Brazil Port Sells Terminal Stake Valuing Unit Above Parent
Prumo Logistica SA, the developer of the Acu port in Rio de Janeiro, agreed to sell a 20 percent stake of its oil terminal for $200 million to Marquard & Bahls AG’s Oiltanking GmbH. The deal values Prumo’s oil-terminal unit at $1 billion, or more than 1.5 times the parent company’s market valuation as of... Continue Reading →
Brazil tax amnesty plan may struggle to lure back offshore assets
Aug 6. Desperate to fix a fiscal crunch threatening its investment grade credit rating, Brazil is aiming to lure back some of an estimated $150 billion in unreported assets held abroad in tax havens and secret bank accounts. The cash-strapped government is looking to raise 10 billion reais ($3 billion) this year by offering an... Continue Reading →
Citigroup Sounding Alarm on $13 Billion of Bank Bonds in Brazil
To Citigroup Inc., traders in Brazil’s bank-bond market are being far too complacent. The country is in danger of having its rating cut to the cusp of junk by Moody’s Investors Service, and that means the nation’s biggest lenders are also in the crosshairs. That’s because banks’ credit grades typically are aligned with those of... Continue Reading →
Brazil Yields at Record High as Default Risk Rises, Real Weakens
Brazil’s local bond yields rose to a record and the cost of protecting against default climbed after President Dilma Rousseff suffered a setback in Congress that eroded measures to pare budgets and avoid a junk credit rating. The real declined to a 12-year low as the lower house of Congress voted for spending increases hours... Continue Reading →
Eletrobras to pay Petrobras in debt settlement, government says
Aug 5 Brazil's two largest energy companies, Eletrobras and Petrobras , settled a quarrel on Wednesday worth billions of dollars in late payments for fuel supplies, the government said. Brazil's Energy Ministry said Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA, as Eletrobras is known, will pay Petrobras a bill that at one point late last year was estimated... Continue Reading →
Brazil’s Rousseff approval rating hits new low, poll shows
Reuters Aug 6 Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's approval rating hit a new low of 8 percent as a growing number of voters support her impeachment, pollster Datafolha said on Thursday. The number of Brazilians that consider Rousseff's administration "bad" or "very bad" touched 71 percent, from 65 percent in June, according to a Datafolha poll... Continue Reading →
Brazil Energy Insight 