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The Amazon Fund, started under leftist Lula's first administration from 2003-2010, bankrolled conservation projects and counts Norway and Germany as its biggest donors. Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro froze the fund, citing unspecified spending irregularities among fund-backed projects run by nongovernmental organizations, without providing evidence. The British embassy said its government was studying the invitation to join the Amazon Fund. Izabella Teixeira, Lula's former environment minister and current climate change adviser, told Reuters she had met with Norwegian and German officials on Monday about restarting the fund. Deforestation soared to a 15-year high under Bolsonaro, who called for more farming and mining in the Amazon region.

☆ Credit default ratio in Brazil hits highest in almost 4 years
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRASILIA, Nov 28 (Reuters) - A broad measure of Brazilian consumer and business credit default ratios rose in October to its highest level in almost four years, central bank data showed on Monday, amid high borrowing costs and aggressive monetary tightening. The default ratio in non-earmarked loans increased to 4.2% from 4.1% in September, the highest since August 2018's 4.22%. The central bank recently warned of its growing concern about the effects of lower economic activity on credit risks in the country, pointing to a "relevant" increase in risks on financing families this year. According to the central bank, individuals' ability to pay has deteriorated even amid better indicators for the economy and the labor market. The central bank forecasts 14.2% credit growth this year.

☆ Brazil school shooter kills 3, injures 13 at two campuses
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

BRASILIA, Brazil — A former student armed with a semiautomatic pistol and wearing a bulletproof vest fatally shot three people and wounded 13 on Friday after barging into two schools in southeastern Brazil, authorities said. The shootings took place at a public school with elementary and middle school students and a private school, both on the same street in the small town of Aracruz in Espirito Santo state, the state’s public security secretariat said in a statement. Approximately four hours later, the shooter, identified as a 16-year-old boy who used to study at the public school, was arrested by police, Espirito Santo Gov. In addition to the fatalities, 13 people were wounded, including nine instructors, said Celante, who noted that in the public school the shooter gained access to the teachers lounge after breaking a lock. School shootings are uncommon in Brazil, but have happened with somewhat greater frequency in recent years.

☆ Brazil to allow credit fintechs to initiate payment transactions
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BRASILIA, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Brazil's National Monetary Council on Friday decided to allow credit fintechs to initiate payment transactions, the central bank said, a move that will in practice clear them to provide payment services to consumers and business establishments. Payment initiators, the central bank said in a statement, "initiate a transaction ordered by the final user but never manage the payment account, nor hold the funds of the transactions". Reporting by Isabel Versiani; Editing by Steven GrattanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Brazil posts current account deficit of $4.6 bln in October
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The deficit was $4.6 billion in October, below a $4.9 billion shortfall forecast in a Reuters poll with economists. Year-to-date, the current account deficit reached $44 billion, approaching the $46.4 billion deficit recorded for the entire year of 2021. The data was affected by a methodological review by the central bank that increased the shortfall from last year and this year to September. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment in October totaled $5.5 billion, lower than the $6.5 billion projected by economists. Year-to-date, however, FDI reached $74 billion, handily surpassing the full-year 2021 amount of $46.4 billion.

☆ Brazil's federal public debt rises in October due to interest payments
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BRASILIA, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Brazil's federal public debt increased in October after three consecutive months of decline, official data showed on Friday, driven by debt interest payments. The stock of federal public debt rose 26.29 billion reais from September to 5.778 trillion reais ($1.07 trillion). According to the Treasury, interest payments on public debt totaled 35.39 billion reais, overshadowing 9.11 billion reais in net redemptions of bonds. According to the Treasury, the amount is enough to pay about nine months of debt maturities. The average interest rate on the issuance of domestic federal increased to 11.8% in October from 11.7% the month before.

☆ Brazil's Lula won't have interventionist stance on Petrobras, aide says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Ricardo Brito | Tom Polansek | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A logo of Brazil's state-run Petrobras oil company is seen at their headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 16, 2019. REUTERS/Sergio Moraes/File PhotoBRASILIA, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Brazil's incoming leftist government will not have an interventionist stance on state-run oil giant Petrobras (PETR4.SA), a member of the transition team for President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Thursday. Market participants have been showing concern over how the Lula administration might run Petrobras. He also noted that the incoming administration, and not Petrobras itself, would set a new fuel pricing policy for the country. Shares of Petrobras, which slipped by roughly a quarter since mid-October, were up more than 4% on Thursday, outperforming Brazil's Bovespa stock index (.BVSP), which rose 2.5%.

☆ Key Brazil senator pushing to waive at least $19 bln from spending cap
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRASILIA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Brazilian Senator Marcelo Castro said on Wednesday that a constitutional amendment backed by President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva must exempt at least 100 billion reais ($19 billion) from a constitutional spending cap next year. In an interview with Reuters, Castro, the key lawmaker handling 2023 budget talks, said the initial idea of permanently excluding the "Bolsa Familia" welfare program from the spending ceiling had "lost a lot of strength." Lula's transition team first proposed to remove the Bolsa Familia program from the spending cap indefinitely, opening space for 175 billion reais in new spending. The initial proposal also removed some public investments from the cap, opening room for another 23 billion reais in public spending next year. ($1 = 5.3907 reais)Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Bernardo Caram; Writing by Marcela Ayres; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The complaint was met with skepticism by election authorities and other political figures who have recognized Lula's victory. The head of Brazil's Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, said the election result was "unquestionable," while the center-right Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) called Bolsonaro's challenge "senseless." When the PSDB challenged the result of the 2014 presidential election, the investigation took one year and no irregularities were found. Vice President Hamilton Mourao, on a trip to Portugal, acknowledged on Wednesday that Bolsonaro's challenge was unlikely to succeed but said Brazil's electoral process needed more "transparency." Analyst Andre Cesar at Hold Legislativa consultancy said, however, that the challenge would provide ammunition for an ongoing protest movement of Bolsonaro's hardcore supporters.

☆ Brazil's electoral court rejects Bolsonaro election challenge
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BRASILIA, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The head of Brazil's electoral court Alexandre de Moraes on Wednesday rejected a complaint from President Jair Bolsonaro's party to challenge October's run-off vote, which the incumbent lost my a narrow margin, according to a court document. Moraes, who's also a Supreme Court justice, also fined the parties in Bolsonaro's coalition to the tune of 22.9 million reais for what the court described as bad faith litigation, the document showed. Reporting by Ricardo Brito; Writing by Peter Frontini; Editing by David Alire GarciaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bolsonaro contests Brazil election, demands votes be anulled
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Neither explained how that might have affected election results, but said they were asking the electoral authority to invalidate all votes cast on those machines. Diego Aranha, an associate professor of systems security at Aarhus University in Denmark, who has participated in official security tests of Brazil’s electoral system, agreed. Bolsonaro spent more than a year claiming Brazil’s electronic voting system is prone to fraud, without ever presenting evidence. Brazil began using an electronic voting system in 1996 and election security experts consider such systems less secure than hand-marked paper ballots, because they leave no auditable paper trail. But Brazil’s system has been closely scrutinized by domestic and international experts who have never found evidence of it being exploited to commit fraud.

☆ Brazil boosts forecast for 2022 budget surplus forecast to $4 bln
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The Economy Ministry forecast a 23.4 billion reais ($4.4 billion) primary budget surplus for the central government, comprising Brazil's Treasury, central bank and Social Security, up from September's estimate for a 13.5 billion reais surplus. If confirmed, the result will be further away from the official target of a 170.5 billion reais deficit for 2022. In its latest bi-monthly revenue and expenditure report, the ministry improved by 11.1 billion reais the outlook for federal net revenues this year, helped mainly by more dividends from state-owned companies. Lula's transition government is currently working on a proposal to amend the Constitution to exempt social spending from the budget cap, which should significantly worsen next year's budget balance. ($1 = 5.3517 reais)Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Brazil government improves primary budget surplus forecast for $4 bln in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BRASILIA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Brazil's Economy Ministry projected on Tuesday a primary budget surplus of 23.361 billion reais ($4.37 billion) for the central government this year, according to its latest bi-monthly revenue and expenditure report. The forecast came in better than the 13.548 billion reais surplus estimated in September. ($1 = 5.3517 reais)Reporting by Marcela AyresOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Brazil transition team asks Bolsonaro govt to halt Petrobras asset sales
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras FollowNov 22 (Reuters) - The transition team for Brazil's President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked the current administration to halt ongoing asset sales by state-run oil giant Petrobras (PETR4.SA) until a new Mines and Energy Minister is appointed, a member of the group said on Tuesday. The remarks by Professor Mauricio Tolmasquim, tapped last week to participate in the mining and energy group of the transition process, came after a meeting in Brasilia. A second member of the team, Senator Jean Paul Prates, said that Lula was expected to make decision on who would be Petrobras' next chief executive by early December. Lula is set to take office from incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro on Jan. 1. Reporting by Roberto Samora in Sao Paulo; Editing by Steven GrattanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro gives a press statement at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil, November 1, 2022. Bolsonaro's claim seems unlikely to get far, as Lula's victory has been ratified by the TSE and acknowledged by Brazil's leading politicians and international allies. Bolsonaro's right-wing electoral coalition, which filed the complaint, said its audit of the vote count had found "signs of irreparable... malfunction" in older voting machines. "There were signs of serious failures that generate uncertainties and make it impossible to validate the results generated" in several older models of the voting machines, Bolsonaro allies said in their complaint. Brazil's currency deepened losses after news of the electoral complaint, losing 1.5% against the U.S. dollar in afternoon trading.

☆ President Jair Bolsonaro has dropped out of sight because he 'can't wear pants' due to a skin infection, Brazil's vice president says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro lost a tightly-contested presidential election last month. Since then, he has been holed up in his official residence. Brazil's vice president told O Globo that Bolsonaro hasn't left his home due to a skin infection. Mourao said that Bolsonaro, 67, who lost a tightly-contested presidential election last month, has been holed up in his official residence because of a skin infection, known as erysipelas, on his leg. He has a leg injury, a skin infection," Mourao told O Globo .

☆ Fact Check-Video of crowds gathering in Brasilia are not part of an ‘uprising’
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A video showing thousands of people gathered in Brazil’s capital has been falsely claimed on social media to show an uprising against the result of the October election. “Our media is ignoring the uprising against the left in Brazil,” said one Twitter user in a Nov. 16 post liked 46,000 times. Some of his supporters have refused to accept the result and have been demonstrating in the weeks since, as reported here and nL1N31Y11S . The social media video of crowds gathered, however, dates back to September (before the election) and is therefore unrelated to the election result (see here ). The video was captured before the election and therefore is unrelated to the election result.

That would surpass the October 2020 peak of 89% in the central bank series dating back to 2006. "It reduces the degree of freedom for the central bank to manage monetary policy," said Ramos. Brazil's central bank has held interest rates at 13.75% since August, after 12 straight hikes that lifted rates from a 2% record low in March 2021. Lula campaigned openly against the constitutional spending cap that limits spending growth to inflation. The proposal also removes some public investments from the cap, opening space for another 23 billion reais in public spending next year.

☆ Brazil is not out of the woods on inflation amid fiscal concerns, says cenbank chief
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BRASILIA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Brazil is not out of the wood on inflation and policymakers still see work to be done, said central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto on Friday, stressing that fiscal concerns are affecting market expectations for monetary easing. Speaking at an event hosted by Bloomberg, he said the central bank does not handle fiscal policy but takes it as an input. Still, it is very important to have coordination between fiscal and monetary policies at this stage of the cycle, he added. Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by Steven GrattanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Brazil's government cuts 2023 GDP growth forecast as global economy weakens
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRASILIA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's Economy Ministry on Thursday cut its 2023 GDP growth forecast to 2.1%, from the 2.5% anticipated in September, due to a deterioration in the global economic outlook. In a statement, the ministry's Secretariat for Economic Policy stressed that the global economy has weakened in the face of monetary tightening in the United States and other developed economies, which has hampered prospects for growth. At the same time, the ministry kept its 2022 GDP growth outlook at 2.7% on the basis of solid activity in the services sector and an improved labor market. The ministry decreased its 2022 inflation forecast to 5.85% from the 6.3% projected in September. For 2023, the official inflation projection now stands at 4.6%, up from the prior 4.5% forecast.

☆ Brazil crypto law back on agenda as FTX collapse sends shockwaves
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Isabel Woodford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"If there is a good side (to the FTX disaster), it would be that it gets the law prioritized," he told Reuters on Tuesday. Brazil is one of the top 10 active markets globally for crypto, according to 2022 Chainalysis data. "If it's good for Brazilian investors, then it's a good law," he added. FTX filed for bankruptcy last week and is facing scrutiny from U.S. authorities, amid reports that $10 billion in customer assets were shifted from the crypto exchange to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's trading company Alameda Research. Dagnoni told Reuters that Mercado Bitcoin, mainly active in Brazil and Portugal, had no exposure to FTX, having developed its own custody solution to store customer assets.

☆ Brazil VP-elect Alckmin vows debt reduction, seeks to appease markets
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRASILIA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Brazil's incoming government will be fiscally responsible, Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin said Thursday, promising a budget surplus and reduction in public debt in effort to quell market unrest over a proposed welfare plan. "The market reaction is momentary. "The framework will be discussed," Alckmin, a former two-time governor of Brazil's Sao Paulo state. "The key issue is a tax reform," which will help spur GDP growth, he said, adding it would be approved as soon as possible, but he gave no deadline. Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Brendan O'Boyle and David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Brazil's Lula seen favoring leftist Haddad for finance minister, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Lisandra Paraguassu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

REUTERS/Mariana Greif/File PhotoBRASILIA, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Leftist former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad is emerging as the front-runner to be Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's finance minister, three sources told Reuters, although they said no final decision has yet been made. Investors, already jittery over Lula's spending plans, are eager to learn who will be Brazil's next finance minister. Lula is not expected to announce any of his ministers until early December after he returns from Egypt and Portugal trips. Markets tumbled in Brazil last week on concerns that Lula was delaying the naming of his finance minister and disregarding fiscal discipline as he studied ways to bypass the budget spending ceiling. Haddad failed in his bid to be Sao Paulo governor in last month's election, losing out to Bolsonaro's pick for the job.

☆ Fact Check-Image shows 2016 anti-government protest in Brazil, not a 2022 demonstration
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

An image of an anti-government protest in Brazil in 2016 is being falsely linked to demonstrations in 2022. However, the protest shown in the image took place in 2016, not 2022, as is claimed online. Reuters addressed the 2016 protests in articles here and here. There have been demonstrations against the 2022 election result (here and here). The photo was taken during anti-government protests in 2016, not 2022.

Lula's team also worked to secure a jungle conservation alliance announced on Monday between the three largest rainforest nations - Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. That includes pushing for rich nations with high greenhouse gas emissions to pay poor nations for historic damage the climate. Colombia's Environment Minister Susana Muhamad said Lula's election would allow for renewed regional cooperation among Amazon rainforest nations to tackle deforestation, a major contributor to climate change. Lula environmental advisor Izabella Teixeira said she felt the mood about Brazil has shifted at COP27 from previous summits. "When I come to COP and meet people after the election of President Lula, there is hope," she said.

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