Category: Brazil

Brazil’s agribusiness exports rose 9 percent in July to $4.1 billion on strong meat, sugar, ethanol and coffee sales. The country´s total trade surplus in the agribusiness sector is $21.4 billion so far this year. Agricultural export growth has been tempered by a strengthening currency and a drought in Brazil´s south.

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Brazilian state contractor Marcos Valerio Fernandes de Souza, who’s at the center of a probe of alleged corruption in the ruling Workers’ Party, said he has never lent money to a president or cabinet minister. Opposition lawmakers such as Senator Demostenes Torres have asserted that Valerio helped the Workers’ Party cover some expenses of President Lula da Silva´s transition team and inauguration party in Brasilia. A corruption scandal has dogged Lula´s government since June and threatens to cut into his popularity ahead of next year´s presidential elections.

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Banco Bradesco, Brazil’s biggest private bank, reported net income of $612 million in the second quarter, more than double last year´s figure, as demand for consumer loans grew amid rising interest rates. The bank boosted lending 20 percent from a year ago after central bankers pushed up interest rates 3.75 percentage points over the nine months through May. Bradesco has reported rising profits for eleven straight quarters.

A Brazilian central bank branch in the northeastern city of Fortaleza was robbed by thieves who dug a 200-meter-long tunnel into the building. The central bank did not say how much money was stolen but reports in the Brazilian press put the figure at $65 million.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said federal authorities are assisting lawmakers probing allegations of corruption within the ruling Workers’ Party and the government. Lower house deputy Roberto Jefferson testified to congress in June that Lula’s ruling Workers’ Party paid cash bribes to lawmakers to win support for legislation proposed by the government. Lula has promised to punish wrongdoers within his administration.

Portugal Telecom has agreed to sell its PrimeSys unit in Brazil to Embratel Participacoes, Brazil’s largest long-distance telephone company, for about $100 million. PrimeSys, which provides computer and communications services, had EBITDA of $13 million last year.

Abbott Laboratories, Roche Holding and more than 20 other pharmaceutical companies have agreed to reduce prices for AIDS drugs by as much as 55 percent in Latin America. Last month Brazil persuaded Abbott to cut the price of its AIDS drug Kaletra after threatening to break the company’s patent and produce the medication itself. In Latin America, about 350,000 of the 1.5 million people with AIDS need antiretroviral drugs and only 73 percent receive treatment, according to Argentina´s Health Ministry.

Brazil’s industrial production rose 6.3 percent in June as steel, food and car exports jumped. Industry and Trade Minister Luiz Fernando Furlan said last week that monthly exports may average $10 billion in the second half of the year, helping avert a ”hard-landing” for the economy. Brazil´s central bank has been raising interest rates this year to rein in inflation.