Latest news with #LuizInacioLulaDaSilva
Reuters
20 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Brazil eases 2025 spending curbs needed to comply with fiscal rules
BRASILIA, July 22 (Reuters) - Brazil's government on Tuesday eased the total spending curbs previously deemed necessary to comply with fiscal rules, after raising its net revenue forecast by 27.1 billion reais ($4.87 billion) this year, according to its latest revenue and expenditure report. The Finance and Planning ministries fully eliminated the spending freeze announced in May to meet this year's fiscal target, which had totaled 20.7 billion reais. The boost was driven mainly by an upward revision of 17.9 billion reais in projected revenue from natural resource exploration. The report also slightly raised to 10.7 billion reais, from 10.6 billion previously, the spending block needed to comply with the cap on expenditure growth under the new fiscal framework approved during the administration of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in 2023. As a result, the total amount of spending curbs - which had stood at 31.3 billion reais when including the now-reversed freeze - fell to 10.7 billion reais. The higher estimate for public revenue follows congressional approval of a measure that clears the way for an extra oil auction involving uncontracted areas in the offshore pre-salt region, a move first reported by Reuters in April. This year's fiscal target is a primary deficit of zero, with a tolerance band of 0.25% of GDP in either direction. That means the government can post a primary deficit of up to 31 billion reais and still remain in compliance with the goal. The government now forecasts a primary deficit of 26.3 billion reais, excluding nearly 50 billion reais in court-ordered payments, which the Supreme Court has ruled should not be included in the fiscal target calculation. ($1 = 5.5681 reais)
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Brazil: Judge threatens Bolsonaro over shared speech
A Brazilian Surpreme Court judge has threatened Jair Bolsonaro with imprisonment as the video of a speech by the former president to media outlets was circulated on social media by his allies — violating a social media ban. A document accessed by news agencies AFP and Reuters gave Bolsonaro's lawyers 24 hours to explain why he breached the restrictions placed on the far-right politician. Justice Alexandre de Moraes, on Friday, ordered Bolsonaro to wear an ankle braceletand banned him from using social media over allegations of planning a coup to oust elected president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. On Monday, the judge had clarified that the ban included the use of social media through third parties. The clarification has sparked a debate in Brazil if a social media ban should include news interviews. Bolsonaro is also said to have pursued interference from US President Donald Trump who placed steep new tariffs on Brazil, tying the decision to what he called a "witch hunt" against Bolsonaro. His reprimands include a ban from approaching embassies or foreign governments. What do we know about the video? Bolsonaro made the speech to journalists on Friday after attending Congress, where he first desplayed his ankle monitor. The video of Bolsonaro's speech was not posted from his own social media account. However, it was shared by his sons and political allies. Moraes showed these posts to journalists in Congress saying he believed the former president delivered the speech with an intent of it being shared on social media. Meanwhile Bolsonaro's son Eduardo claimed that the Brazilian Supreme Court had passed an order to freeze his accounts and assets. The third of four sons, Eduardo Bolsonaro is a congressman who has been in Washington to gather support for his father. Edited by: Elizabeth Schumacher
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Exclusive-Brazil to establish tax advisory office in China amid deepening ties
By Marcela Ayres BRASILIA (Reuters) -Brazil will establish a tax advisory office in China, the Brazilian Finance Ministry said, highlighting the strategic importance of the move as the two nations deepen their ties. The decision underscores Brazil's growing focus on its relationship with China, its largest trading partner, as tariffs introduced by U.S. President Donald Trump escalate global tensions. A draft was seen by Reuters of the presidential decree that will create the new post in Beijing, as well as preparatory documents that cite the "growing complexity" of bilateral trade and the need to enhance cooperation on tax and customs matters. The move coincides with mounting trade tensions between the U.S. and Brazil, after Trump linked fresh 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports to the prosecution of his ally and former President Jair Bolsonaro, leaving limited options for Latin America's largest economy to negotiate a deal. Tax advisory offices or attaches play a "strategic role" in international cooperation by exchanging information critical to combating tax and customs violations, the ministry said. They also provide technical guidance on Brazilian legislation to foreign investors and citizens abroad, helping to improve legal certainty and the business environment, it added. While Brazil's trade overtures to the U.S. have gone unanswered so far, relations with China have deepened. Since taking office in 2023, leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has met with President Xi Jinping three times. The two countries have also agreed to explore transportation integration, including a proposed bi-oceanic rail corridor linking Brazil to the Chinese-built port of Chancay in Peru. Asked why Brazil is only now establishing a tax office in China - its top trading partner since 2009 - the ministry denied any link to the ongoing trade war. "There is no political motivation," said the ministry, noting that the initiative reflects the importance of bilateral trade and the need for deeper cooperation on tax and customs issues. Brazil currently has four tax and customs attachés abroad - in Washington and Buenos Aires, both set up in 2000, and in Asuncion and Montevideo, established in 2002. The United States remains Brazil's top source of foreign direct investment, while Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay are its Mercosur bloc co-founders. The Finance Ministry said discussions around the attaché in Beijing began in 2023 and have involved technical reviews by multiple ministries since January 6 this year. (Reporting and writing by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Manuela Andreoni and David Holmes)
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Brazil economy on track despite U.S. tariffs, but inflation risk up
July 21 (Reuters) - Brazil's economic growth will stay on track despite the imposition of U.S. tariffs, according to a Reuters poll of economists, but inflation appears at greater risk of worsening if trade negotiations flounder. U.S. President Donald Trump threatened this month to set a 50% duty on Brazilian goods on August 1 in a spat with his counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who vowed to retaliate if diplomacy broke down. However, even under steep tariffs, Brazil's economy should continue expanding at a gradual rate in 2025 and next year with the help of a resilient jobs market. Brazil's gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast to increase 2.2% this year and 1.7% in 2026, according to the median estimate of 38 analysts polled on July 14-21. As in other countries, economists are mostly sticking to a baseline scenario with moderate tariffs. Both forecasts were slightly better than the consensus view of 2.0% and 1.6%, respectively, in an April survey. "The domestic labor market remains quite tight, with unemployment at new lows and the real wage mass still expanding at a brisk pace," said Roberto Secemski, a Barclays economist. "At the margin the uncertainty from tariffs reduces those upside risks, but we don't see them derailing growth at this point." In the poll, inflation is forecast to slow to 4.4% next year from 5.2% in 2025, just a sliver below the top end of the central bank's goal of 3.0% plus or minus 1.5 percentage point. On potential tariff negotiations between the U.S. and Brazil, 13 of 16 participants who shared a view expected the August 1 deadline set by Washington to be extended, giving room for talks. Two envisaged a "no deal" situation that would lead to the implementation of the planned 50% U.S. tariff right after the ultimatum date, mirrored by Brazilian retaliation measures. One saw a deal leaving in place a lower original 10% "reciprocal tariff" the U.S. put on Brazil and other countries in April, with no reprisal from Brasilia. Hopes for negotiations contrasted with elevated tensions last week after Lula called the threatened duty "unacceptable blackmail", while Washington imposed sanctions on Brazilian officials. Trump has linked the 50% tariff to the treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial over charges of plotting a coup. Additionally, the U.S. launched an investigation into Brazil's trading practices. Still, the median U.S. tariff on Brazilian goods assumed in analysts' forecasts was 30%, according to answers to another question, considerably lower than Trump's threatened 50%. Responses to a separate question on Brazil's potential GDP growth in 2026 in a "no deal" scenario pointed to a 1.6%-1.7% consensus range, virtually the same expansion as in the baseline case. While the U.S. is the second biggest destination of Brazil's exports after China, analysts noted the Latin American country may avoid tariff impact by further redirecting trade to its top market in Asia. Yet the median range for next year's inflation forecast under "no deal" was 4.4%-4.9%. This reflected some chances of Brazil exceeding the upper inflation goal bound of 4.5%, which would again frustrate the central bank. Policymakers are expected to keep the country's benchmark interest rate at a two-decade high of 15% at least until the end of 2025, the poll showed. "The main impact of a no-deal scenario and retaliation by Brazil would likely be on the exchange rate," Santander analysts wrote. "Uncertainty about the effects of these events on the domestic economy would probably be reflected in currency depreciation and a reversal of the current inflation downward trend." (Other stories from the Reuters global economic poll)
Reuters
4 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Senior Brazilian official says judiciary won't be intimidated by US visa bans
BRASILIA, July 19 (Reuters) - Brazil's judiciary will not be intimidated by a U.S. decision to target officials involved in the trial of former President Jair Bolsonaro with visa bans, a senior judicial official said late on Friday, criticising the move as arbitrary. In an escalation of tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump and the government of Latin America's largest economy, Washington imposed visa restrictions on Friday on Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, his family and other unnamed court officials. The visa bans were a response to the Supreme Court's decision to issue search warrants and restraining orders targeting Trump ally Bolsonaro, who is accused of plotting a coup to overturn the results of a 2022 election he lost. Solicitor general Jorge Messias, the top judicial official for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's executive branch, said in a statement posted on X that Prosecutor General Paulo Gonet was also targeted by the ban. "Rest assured that no improper maneuver or sordid conspiratorial act will intimidate our country's judiciary in the independent and dignified exercise of its task," he added. Messias said the Brazilian officials were subject to "arbitrary acts of visa revocation by a foreign nation on account of their fulfillment of their legitimate institutional responsibilities in accordance with constitutional terms." In addition to Moraes, seven other justices from Brazil's 11-member Supreme Court were also hit by the U.S. visa restrictions, Government Institutional Relations Minister Gleisi Hoffmann said on Friday. They include justices Luis Roberto Barroso, Dias Toffoli, Cristiano Zanin, Flavio Dino, Carmen Lucia, Edson Fachin, and Gilmar Mendes. The Prosecutor General's Office and the Supreme Court did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Trump has criticised the proceedings against Bolsonaro as a "witch hunt", a term he has used to describe his own treatment by political opponents, and has called for the charges to be dropped. In a letter last week, he announced a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods starting August 1, opening the message with criticism of the trial. Bolsonaro is on trial before Brazil's Supreme Court on charges of plotting a coup to stop Lula from taking office in January 2023. The right-wing firebrand has denied that he led an attempt to overthrow the government but has acknowledged taking part in meetings aimed at reversing the election's outcome.
