The sale of the chemical industry Oxiteno — which belonged to Ultra group — to Indorama — leader in the Brazilian PET resin market — was concluded on Friday for $1.48 billion. This way, Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL) reached the top of the ranking among the ethylene oxide and surfactants producers in the […]
The successful auction of the Companhia Docas do Espírito Santo (Codesa) may boost the other port privatization projects underway. However, market players are skeptical about the feasibility of getting them off the ground by 2022, especially the privatization of the Port of Santos — a much more complex project from a technical and political point […]
Faced with rising inflationary pressure and monetary tightening in major economies, the Brazilian Central Bank increased the renminbi share in its foreign exchange reserves to 4.99% in 2021, the highest since the Chinese currency became part of the basket in 2019. The share is four times higher than the previous year’s allocation, of 1.21%. The […]
The Brazil of interest rates at double-digit levels produced a first quarter of good results for investors. It was good for those who stayed with the safety of fixed income and even better for those who were encouraged to shoulder the stock market risk and bet on more volatile classes, such as multimarket and stock […]
The unemployment rate in Brazil reached 11.2 percent in the mobile quarter encompassing December 2021 through February this year. The index is lower than in the quarter ended in November (11.6%) and in the one ended in February last year (14.6%). The figures can be found in the Continuous PNAD (National Household Sample Survey), released […]
Unlike health and education, states’ total spending on public security in 2021 was below that seen before the pandemic period. Spending on public security, considering the 26 states and the Federal District, was 3.4% lower than in 2019, despite the favorable situation for revenues in the last two years. In addition to fueling demonstrations that […]
The favorable global environment for commodity exporters and the double-digit interest rates in Brazil, which already outpaces recent inflation figures, have provided much support for the Brazilian real since the beginning of the year. When assessing the terms of trade, in particular, it is possible that the real has room to appreciate further in the […]
The Brazilian organic food market grew 12% in 2021 and handled R$6.5 billion, estimates the Organic Food Promotion Association (Organis), which expected a 10% expansion. Growth in 2022 is again expected to reach 10%, in a conservative forecast, or range from 12% to 15%, in a more consistent demand scenario. The association head Cobi Cruz […]
Revolut, Europe’s most popular digital bank and always cited by analysts as one of the best in the world, is finally arriving in Brazil. Glauber Mota, a very seasoned executive partly responsible for creating BTG’s digital bank, will lead the local operation. The group has not revealed its projected user base in the country, but […]
Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Workers’ Party, PT) has suggested changes to Petrobras’s business plan, such as reversing the divestment policy started in 2016, after the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. He also criticized again the state-owned company’s price policy and defended new investments in refineries. In a debate organized by his party and […]