The majority of Brazil’s audit agency currently favors a recommendation to reject President Dilma Rousseff’s fiscal accounts, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The agency, known as the TCU, last week decided to give Rousseff until July 23 to explain budget practices that it says violate the fiscal-responsibility law. A TCU... Continue Reading →
Colombia’s Ecopetrol in the Market Offering 10 year USD Bonds
Colombia’s state-owned oil company is offering at least $500 million of 10-year dollar bonds in the overseas market as it seeks funds for investments. Read More
Sale of Petrobras Participation in Ethanol Unit Turns Sour
Plans by Brazil's Petrobras to sell its stake in ethanol and sugar producer Guarani SA have hit a snag as the state-run oil company has not been offered enough money for the asset, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. Read More
Brazil Real Down on Budget Compromise
Brazil’s real led drops among major Latin American currencies amid concern that the nation’s credit rating is threatened as economic contraction forces Finance Minister Joaquim Levy to compromise on budget goals. Read More
Singapore Shipyards Investigated on Petrobras Graft Scandal
Singapore shipbuilders Keppel Fels Ltd. and Jurong Shipyard Pte. are being investigated by the authorities. Keppel Fels and Jurong, a unit of Sembcorp Marine Ltd., were among a group of companies that allegedly paid bribes through intermediaries to win contracts to build 21 deep-water drilling vessels for about $800 million each, according to testimony released... Continue Reading →
Graft Probe Erodes Confidence in Dilma Rousseff
Just when Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff had started making progress in getting her political alliance to fall in line behindspending cuts, she faces fresh headwinds. Pending testimony by the heads of Brazil’s largest construction companies on graft at state-run oil producer Petroleo Brasileiro SA threatens to drag the ruling Workers’ Party deeper into Brazil’s largest... Continue Reading →
Brazilian Real Rallies on Higher Interest Raters Possibilities
Brazil’s real rose for the first time in three days on speculation the nation’s higher interest rates will attract foreign investors even as Latin America’s largest economy shrinks. Read More
Brazil’s May Current Account Shows Slight Improvement
The deficit in the current account, the broadest measure of trade in goods and services, narrowed in May to $3.4 billion from $6.9 billion a month earlier, the central bank said in a report distributed today in Brasilia. The gap was smaller than estimated by all 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg, whose median forecast was... Continue Reading →
Fitch Cuts BP Outlook
BP Plc’s rating outlook was downgraded by Fitch Ratings because it expects lower crude prices and fines related to the Macondo oil spill to cut cash flows and drive up debt. Read More
Oh No!! It’s Monday….
Brazil economists raised their 2015 inflation forecast, dimmed their outlook for economic activity and boosted their estimate for the benchmark rate this year after three sets of worse-than-expected data came out June 19 and construction executives were arrested. Read More