Petrobras (PETR3; PETR4) and YPFB sign transition agreement whereby Bolivian company will continue to export natural gas to Brazil until March 10, 2020

Petrobras announced today that it has signed a Transition Agreement under the natural gas supply contract with Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB). Under the new agreement, the gas supply will be adopted a transition period from January 1 to March 10, 2020, in Bolivia's gas supply.

Until then, Petrobras and YPFB will "continue the negotiation process with the aim of changing certain trading conditions, in line with the opening process of the Brazilian natural gas market and the new Bolivian market context", according to the note published by the Brazilian state-owned company.

The crisis in Bolivia, which led to the overthrow of the government of Evo Morales, now in exile in Mexico, altered the negotiations between Brazil and Bolivia. Now, who is negotiating with Brazil is Bolivia's Hydrocarbon Minister, Victor Hugo Zamora, who is in Rio de Janeiro for talks with Brazilian authorities.

Bolsonaro and Evo Morales were in diametrically opposed ideological fields. Now, with the arrival of military and evangelicals in Bolivia, after a coup d'état, Brazil and Bolivia now have two governments that are very similar. Both in Brazil and Bolivia, who commands today are religious rights very close to the military forces of both countries.

It is also good to remember that 83% of the gas that Brazil imports come from Bolivia.

Cost of living in Brazil: domestic gas prices, gasoline, and ethanol rise and affect the income of Brazilian citizens

According to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, Petrobras readjusted today "the price of cooking gas by about 5%". According to the newspaper, the price increase is valid for all types of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas), which includes domestic (for cooking) and industrial gas.

This is the fifth increase in domestic gas in 2019. The last was on November 25, when Petrobras (PETR3; PETR4) readjusted the domestic gas cylinder price by 4%.

According to a survey by the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), in the early days of December, in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, the price of cooking gas rose twice the inflation measured by the IPCA.

Already the price of ethanol in the pumps of gas stations in Brazil is the highest in the last six years. To make matters worse, the price of gasoline has also skyrocketed. Thus, fuel readjustments make life harder for Brazilians this holiday season.

2019 was a year of environmental tragedies in Brazil

The rupture of a Vale dam in Brumadinho (MG), deforestation and burning in the Amazon, and the dumping of oil on Brazilian beaches summed to the unfortunate and terrible statements of the president, Jair Bolsonaro, and the environment minister, Ricardo Salles, contributed to the aggravation of the crises.

In January, the rupture of the Vale dam at the Corrégo do Feijão in Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, shocked Brazil and the world. To date, more than 260 deaths of employees of Samarco (a joint-venture between the Brazilian Vale and the English-Australian BHP, each one holding 50% of the company's stocks) and residents of the region have been confirmed. There are people that are still missing. For Greenpeace, what happened in Brumadinho was a "crime".

According to Greenpeace, "cases such as this, which may become more frequent with the easing of environmental licensing, cannot be considered accidents, but social and environmental crimes arising from greed and neglect."

Samarco itself is linked to the largest environmental disaster ever recorded in Brazil. The Mariana dam rupture in Minas Gerais killed 19 people and dumped tons of tailings polluting and destroying the Rio Doce basin and devastating the fauna and flora of the region. In the affected Rio Doce region, approximately 3.2 million people live.

According to the Repérter Brasil website, the Amazon burnings in 2019 were more frequently detected in cattle-producing regions near refrigerators than in the rest of the forest.

In 2019, the burning in the Amazon almost tripled and surpassed the historical average. Within 12 months from August 31, 2018, until August 31, 2019, 30,901 fire outbreaks were recorded compared to 10,421 fire outbreaks for the same period between 2017 and 2018, which corresponds to a 196% increase.

The disaster caused by the oil spill that hit the beaches of the Northeast and part of Southeast Brazil is still unsolved. More than 800 sites have already been hit by oil slicks on the coast. Three months after the appearance of the first spots, the origin of the oil is unknown, and no one has been indicted.

In 2019, according to Inpe, deforestation in the Brazilian Cerrado grew 15%; WWF-Brazil fears that the Cerrado is heading for a process of mass extinction unprecedented in Earth's history

According to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, according to Prodes Cerrado data, released by Inpe (National Institute for Space Research), "deforestation in the Brazilian cerrado between August 2018 and July 2019 fell slightly but remains high." 6,483 km² were devastated, with a 15% growth in deforestation in protected areas (PAs).

According to Folha, "the value is not far from the devastation seen in recent years in the Amazon, but the cerrado is about half the size of the Amazon biome.

The Cerrado biome has recently lost the equivalent of London's metropolitan area every three months, according to data released by Inpe. The loss of vegetation cover in recent years has worried environmentalists.

According to WWF-Brazil, at the rate of destruction in recent years, the Cerrado is heading for a process of mass extinction unprecedented in Earth's history.

According to Inpe, Amazon deforestation in November grows 104% and breaks the record for this month

A survey by INPE (Brazil National Institute for Space Research) found that the devastation of the Amazon rainforest biome hit a record for November. In 2019, according to Inpe, there was an increase of almost 104% of the deforested area compared to the previous year.

According to the Deter (Deforestation Detection System in the Legal Amazon in Real Time) there was an increase of 83.9% in forest devastation between January and November 2019 compared to the same period of 2018. In total, during the government From Jair Bolsonaro, the devastation of the forest went from 4,878.7 square kilometers recorded in 2019 to 8,974.31 square kilometers during the current government.

It is good to remember that following the international repercussions of the increase in deforestation reported by Inpe since July, President Jair Bolsonaro accused, without evidence, Inpe of lying about the data and dismissed the then director of the institute, Ricardo Galvão, who rebutted the criticism of the President In the end, the data showed that Galvão was right and that deforestation had really increased a lot in the region. Due to his opposition to the government and his work in defense of science, Galvão was elected by Nature magazine one of the ten most important scientists of 2019.

According to Nature magazine, Galvão "spoke out in defence of INPE scientists. He also accused the president of cowardice and called for a face-to-face meeting — acts that he knew would lead to him losing his job. What he didn’t know was that he would become a hero of sorts, hailed by his scientific colleagues as well as by strangers on the streets. A woman even stopped him on the subway in São Paulo to thank him for standing up to Bolsonaro and helping her to understand why preserving the Amazon matters".

Jair Bolsonaro's government sends the 2020 Budget to Congress; ministries of Human Rights and the Environment will have the lowest investments

According to the Congresso em Foco website, the ministries that take care of the preservation of Brazilian human rights and the environment will receive the smallest portions of the 2020 budget. The proposal was ratified yesterday by the text's rapporteur in Congress, Domingos Neto.

Confer to the ratified text, the 2020 Federal Budget will distribute R$ 225.95 billion among 16 areas. While the Ministry of Mines and Energy will receive the largest share: R$ 113.3 billion, Environment  and Human Rights will receive R$ 561.6 million and R$ 467.4 million, respectively.

Budget 2020 also set the minimum wage at R$ 1,031 (about 250 dollars in today's exchange rate). Thus, the minimum wage will have a readjustment of 3.31%, which means that there will be no real increase compared to the current value of R$ 998, only the correction of inflation of 2019.

According to ISA, president Jair Bolsonaro's speeches against Indigenous Peoples coupled with weak oversight by Ibama and the Federal Police due to the weakening of these federal agencies by the current government helped to increase deforestation on indigenous lands by 80% in 2019

A study by the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA) showed that deforestation in the Amazon between August 2018 and July 2019 was higher in Indigenous lands. The Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA) linked Inpe's data to Indigenous territories and found that the increase in the deforested area rises from 30% to 80% in these regions, reaching the haunting number of 42.6 thousand hectares of destroyed forest.

The ISA research shows that 51 million trees have been felled on the Amazon rainforest at Indigenous lands in these twelve months. According to the survey by ISA, the government speech by Jair Bolsonaro boosted burning and deforestation in the Amazon. The study crossed information on deforestation with statements by President Bolsonaro, Environment Minister Ricardo Salles, and some governors in the region such as Gladson Cameli, governor of Acre.

Bolsonaro, who had said I will no longer demarcate even an "extra square inch of indigenous land," harshly criticized the destruction of vehicles used by illegal loggers by Ibama agents. He also dismissed the president of Inpe when the institute published figures on the increase in deforestation.

Acre Governor Gladson Cameli was recorded telling illegal loggers to "not pay" the fines imposed by the government.

Environment Minister Ricardo Salles, in turn, met with timber producers in Espigão d'Oeste, Rondônia, and highlighted the role of the timber industry in that state. Interestingly, illegal logging in the municipality of Espigão d'Oeste rose 332% in 2019.

All this happens in a year also terrible for the Indigenous peoples. According to Pastoral da Terra, in 2019, the death toll of indigenous leaders killed was the highest in the last 11 years. Of the 27 people who died in rural conflicts in Brazil this year, 7 were indigenous leaders, compared to 2 in 2018, according to the organization.

Informality advances in Brazil; low wages are now the norm in the country

High informality and low wages were the labor market scenario in Brazil in 2019. A survey by Pnad (National Household Sample Survey) indicated that unemployment fell, but with increasing informality and falling average incomes.

According to the Underground Economy Index, calculated by the Brazilian Institute of Economics of FGV (Fundação Getúlio Vargas), informality is still responsible for a significant portion of the Brazilian economy, having moved R$ 1.2 trillion in the 12 months between June 2018 and June 2019, equivalent to 17.3% of Brazilian GDP. This is the highest value in the last eight years. The growth in informality also increases the production of goods and services that are not declared to the government and the tax evasion of the country. In the 12 months between June 2018 to June 2019, the index advanced 0.1%.

This scenario is strengthened by the emergence of new forms of work, with applications that stimulate informality and expand the outsourcing of employment in Brazil.

According to the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), informal job vacancies are responsible for much of the small generation of jobs in recent years in Brazil. Currently, the country has over 11 million unemployed. Still, according to Ipea, these new informal jobs are behind the drop in productivity and the slow recovery of the Brazilian economy after the recession from 2014 to 2016.

Another problem produced by the high informality in Brazil is the reduction in the level of social security contributions, which worsens the country's fiscal issue. In addition, informality puts people in a situation where there is no fixed income, which limits their access to credit. In informal work, the worker also loses access to any kind of legal protection, does not receive vacation, meal vouchers or transportation allowance, benefits that formal work provides.

Currently, according to IBGE data, Brazil has 38.8 million informal workers. This total is 41% of the total employed persons in Brazil (93.8 million), that is, they represent 4 out of 10 Brazilian workers.

Even with a 29.5% increase in the number of fires in the Amazon, the number of fines imposed by IBAMA in 2019 in Brazil is the lowest in the last 15 years

As published by the G1 website, a survey by the Observatório do Clima based on data from the Brazilian government indicates that amid the 29.5% increase in deforestation and increasing Amazonian burning in 2019, the fines filed by the Brazilian Institute Environment (Ibama) went against environmental crimes. The infraction notices registered from January to November 2019 are the lowest in the last 15 years.

These areas, for the most part, are “forests are public, that is, it is the heritage of all Brazilians, which is illegally dilapidated to be in the hands of a few,” according to Ipam executive director André Guimarães.

Also according to an analysis by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (Ipam), 35% of the deforestation that occurred in the Amazon between August 2018 and July 2019 was recorded in unassigned areas and without information. According to Ipam, 35% of the deforestation that occurs in the Amazon is the result of land grabbing. In 2019, the devastation was the biggest in ten years and had the biggest high of the century.

Selic reaches 4.5% per year, the lowest level in history in Brazil and generates demand for new applications; meanwhile, Brazilian consumer continues to pay 300% interest on credit card per year

The Brazilian Central Bank cut the Selic rate by 0.50 percentage points to 4.5% per year. This is the lowest level in the history of the basic interest rates of the Brazilian economy. Now, Brazilian financial market experts point out that traditional investments such as savings, and Selic-linked Treasury Direct bonds are expected to post negative returns.

Currently, in Brazil, 85% of the current account balance is concentrated in four large banks. This oligopoly of banks forced the overdraft limit to the absurd levels that are in force today in Brazil.

According to the master of economics from the University of São Paulo, Mauricio Gutemberg, as there is no broad and significant competition in the financial sector in Brazil, market forces do not produce a balance. Instead, what you see is interest rates on your credit card and overdraft that are way above any acceptable level.

It was trying to reduce these abusive interest rates that the Brazilian Central Bank decided to limit interest on overdraft. From January 6, 2020, they will be at most 8% per month. With this, the annual interest will have a ceiling of 150% in Brazil. Today, the average rate is over 300% per year.

Brazil falls in UN human development ranking

In 2018, Brazil lost a position in the global ranking of the Human Development Index (HDI). The overall grade for the country was 0.761, up 0.001 from the previous year. Despite the advance, Brazil fell from 78th to 79th place in a group of 189 countries. Thus it was the same position of Colombia and behind countries like Sri Lanka and Argentina.

The Index, released by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) from health, education and per capita income data, shows that Brazil is a country with no long-term planning. The country is positioned worldwide as a supplier of commodities: oil, soy, meat, sugar cane, iron ore etc. There are no long-term projects to improve income distribution, create jobs and advance education.

Incidentally, the drop also indicates the lack of progress in education, in which Brazil is in 79th place, which produces the lack of skilled labor and, in turn, acts as a trap that holds the country in a context. of little growth.

In recent years, the Brazilian Human Development Index (HDI) was virtually stagnant in 2018, after showing low growth in previous years.

Brazil: poverty grows and inequality increases

According to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), Brazil's GDP grew by 1.3% in 2018. The latest Focus Bulletin, published last Monday by the Brazilian Central Bank, pointed out that Brazil's GDP growth in 2019 should be around 1.1%. Therefore, if all goes as expected by the experts from the top 100 financial institutions in the Brazilian market, which make up the Focus Bulletin, 2019 will have a lower GDP growth than 2018.

This scenario allows us to say that the Brazilian economy continues at a very slow recovery pace. As the Brazilian GDP advances with very little vigor, it seems that the country's economy should recover pre-crisis level only in 2022.

According to the technical director of Dieese (Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies), Clemente Ganz Lúcio, if the Brazilian economy continues at this pace, it will take a decade for the country to recover the level of employment that existed before the crisis that began in 2013.

Currently, Brazil has 12.4 million jobless people, a rate of 11.6%.

According to Rafael Guerreiro Osório, a researcher at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea), the country's performance in the areas of income distribution and education pushed performance down. For Osorio, "we are not doing well in education. And this year, we have not seen a proposition of educational policy that promises extraordinary results, if any. In life expectancy, there is no way to change much from one year to another. So the hope would be for income, but our situation today will keep us close to the middle of the ranking." Brazil occupies the 79th position among 189 evaluated nations.

To make matters worse, Brazil has won the terrible title of runner-up in the world this year, second only to Qatar.

According to the newspaper O Estado de Minas, "Brazil is the second most unequal country in the world among those who provide estimates based on tax data, second only to Qatar"

In Brazil, 1% of the richest population (about 1.5 million people) concentrates 23.2% of the share of total income declared by individuals to income tax (in Qatar the richest 1% concentrates about 27% of total declared income).

According to The State of Minas, "the income concentration of this small group of rich people in Brazil is 164% higher than in Sweden, where the one hundredth richest share accounts for 8.8% of the total income. Sweden, from the 1930s until recently, saw the income share of the richest hundredth shrink from 12.3% to 8.8%, in Brazil, over the last nine decades, the distribution pattern has shown a steady and persistent concentration: 1% richer answered between 20% and 25% of the total income".

However, part of the Brazilian financial market, media, and government analysts insist that the Brazilian economy is growing again. For the thousands of Brazilian unemployed and underemployed, this kind of analysis is a kind of derision. For the thousands of Brazilian unemployed and underemployed, this kind of analysis is a kind of derision. While most face a day-to-day world record in homicide, hate crime, incarceration, state violence, unemployment and lack of prospects, part of the country's richest 1% insists that everything is getting better.

Observatório do Clima study shows that deforestation accounted for almost half of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil

According to Jornal Nacional, Brazil's largest television news program, the smoke from car exhaust or power plants is not the biggest polluter of the Brazilian atmosphere. The big villain in this regard is deforestation in Brazilian forests, which accounted for 44% of the country's total greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according to a study by the Observatório do Clima, which brings together 43 civil society organizations.

In August 2019 alone, the Amazon rainforest lost 1,698 square kilometers of vegetation, according to Inpe (National Institute for Space Research of Brazil).

This represents a 222% growth over the same period in 2018. In August 2018, it was 526 square kilometers. In the first eight months of 2019, the deforested area was 92% higher than in the same period of 2018.

According to economists interviewed by Reuters, the historic low-interest rates and the devaluation of the real against the dollar threaten to accelerate deforestation in the Amazon, as they are both favorable to agribusiness growth in the country. This, coupled with the lax oversight by the Jair Bolsonaro government, puts the Amazon rainforest at grave risk.

Real estate funds break the record in Brazil, grow 25% in 2019, and raise R$ 32.5 billion until November of this year

The year 2019 represented a milestone for the real estate funds market in Brazil. The volume of new issues, the largest in history according to Anbima (Brazilian Association of Financial and Capital Markets Entities), reached R$ 32.5 billion until November, more than double the previous record of R$ 16.1. billion, launched in 2011, or of R$ 16.1 billion by 2018. According to the Valor Investe website, the Brazilian Securities Commission (CVM) still has R$ 2.9 billion, in 12 offers, under analysis.

According to the Valor Investe website, to date, IFIX, the index of real estate funds traded on the Brazilian stock exchange, has appreciated 25%. There are more than 200 FIIs traded on B3, although the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) has registered about 478 funds that together add up to R$ 121 billion in equity, according to a bulletin released by B3 in November.

Amazon rainforest deforestation affects rainy season in Brazil and harms farmers; soybean and corn production are the most affected

A survey by two researchers from the Federal University of Viçosa, Minas Gerais, and one from the University of California, United States, and published by the Royal Meteorological Society points out that large-scale replacement of the Amazon rainforest by pasture or planting areas is reducing rainfall in regions such as the Brazilian Midwest.

Between 1998 and 2002, the rainy season in the region, comprising Rondônia, southern Amazonas, northern Mato Grosso, and southern Pará, was shortened by 27 days. This has a huge impact on the Brazilian double-crop, in some cases practically making the second harvest impossible. In Brazil, farmers plant soybeans and then corn on the same ground. Without the rain, planting corn after soybean harvesting is practically unfeasible.

According to consultancy AgRural, in 2019, the ideal planting period (window) for the Brazilian corn crop in 2020 should be shorter, as the irregularity of rainfall in recent weeks has caused soybean sowing to be delayed by several parts of the South Central States of the Country.

Deforestation in the Amazon grows over 200% in August 2019 compared to August of 2018; illegal and uncontrolled logging in the region increases risks of disease and pandemics

According to the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), the Amazon rainforest has lost 1,698 square kilometers of vegetation. In August 2018, there were 526 square kilometers. In the first eight months of 2019, the deforested area reached 6,404 square kilometers (92% higher than in the same period of 2018), and 30,901 fire outbreaks were recorded in the Amazon biome in this period.

In the Amazon, 35% of deforestation cases occur in land grabbing areas in public forests, parks or public areas without a destination. This is what reveals a study by the Amazon Environmental Research Institute (IPAM).

According to National Geographic Brazil, deforestation is causing an increase in infectious diseases in humans. According to scientists interviewed by the magazine, with the increase in the felling of forests around the world, grows the "fear that the next deadly pandemic may arise from within these environments."

According to the National Geographic report, over the past two decades, increasing scientific evidence suggests that deforestation, by initiating a complex chain of events, creates conditions for spreading a wide range of deadly pathogens among humans, including, the Nipah and Lassa viruses, and the parasites that cause malaria and Lyme disease.

Amazon Rainforest fires will have global effect according to Unicamp Chemistry Institute research

According to site G1, a study by researchers at the Unicamp Chemistry Institute (IQ) in the city of Campinas, São Paulo, "identified that burning in the Amazon rainforest, in addition to impacts on climate and biodiversity, is responsible for release 4 to 8 tonnes of mercury per year, a highly toxic element".

Therefore, the study revealed that, in addition to the terrible destruction of the Amazon biome, the burning in the region causes high emissions of mercury in the atmosphere, a highly toxic element to living beings.

According to Professor and researcher Anne Hélène Fostier, since the substance can wander for up to a year until it is deposited anywhere on the planet. Therefore, the impact of the fires on the Amazon Rainforest will be global.

Anne Hélène Fostier, who is an oceanographer, warns that once released into the atmosphere, mercury can go into the soil or water bodies. In rivers, lakes, and oceans the harmful element goes through a process of methylation, which makes it even more toxic.

The research explains that this process generates methylation, which in turn happens in the environment by biological means and transforms inorganic mercury into organic, especially methylmercury, one of the most toxic forms of this element.

According to Fostier, "when methylmercury is incorporated into the food chain, the risks of intoxication are very high. It is a threat, especially to riparian populations, who find their main protein source in fish."

BNDES will sell R$ 38.8 billion in shares in 2020; Petrobras (PETR3; PETR4), JBS (JBSS3). and Copel (CPLE6) are among the shares that will be sold

BNDES has set an initial schedule for the next four equity offerings it will make in 2020, as part of its divestment program, according to the Valor Econômico newspaper. The plan is to sell JBS 'second tranche of shares, a relevant stake in Petrobras, Copel's and Tupy's, which, considering current values, represent sales of R$ 30.8 billion.

According to Valor, the idea of BNDES is to reduce its portfolio of about R$ 120 billion of investments and stakes, reaching the nearest zero in the next three years.

Trump's message on Twitter saying his administration will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum production of Brazil and Argentina shows how disconnected from the reality is the Bolsonaro government, and that the much-vaunted partnership with the US has proved to be pure wishful thinking

In a message posted on Twitter, the president of the United States, Donald Trump,  accuses Brazil and Argentina of devaluing their currencies and thereby harming US farmers. According to the president of the United States, his government will retaliate against Brazil and Argentina by reinstating import tariffs on steel and aluminum from both countries.

Thus, the US government indicates how unrealistic the current Brazilian government is. Jair Bolsonaro, who even said "I love you" to Trump after the Brazilian president's speech and before the American's speech at the UN General Assembly on September 25 in New York, now faces open retaliation by Donald Trump, until then the leader Bolsonaro considered his great partner.

According to the Poder360 website, "in the steel alloys category alone, Brazil exported 1.2 billion dollars in 2018 and 850 million dollars in 2019. Brazil is one of the largest exporters of steel to the United States."

According to economist Laura Carvalho, "Trump will take advantage of the high dollar to put tariffs on our products. That is, we will suffer the inflationary impact of the devaluation of the real without even reaping possible benefits on export performance. Who has a friend like Trump not need enemies".

Today, leaving the Alvorada Palace, Bolsonaro commented on Trump's decision to raise tariffs on Brazilian steel: “I will talk to Paulo Guedes, if I speak to Trump, I have an open channel with him”.

Cost of living in Brazil: beef and gasoline prices soar

Completely insensitive to the difficulties of the poorest population, currently half of the Brazilian population with R$ 413,00 per month (about 100 dollars), the Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina, told the website Poder360 that the "Brazilian consumer should get used to the increase. in the price of meat in recent months ". The high of this product since January 2019 was 5% to 26%, depending on the cut of meat.

The rising price of meat is being produced mainly due to rising Chinese demand, mainly after the swine fever led to the loss of 40% of the country's pork herd. For this reason, China started to buy more beef from many countries, including Brazil. This helped drive up prices.

Another central product for any economy that is experiencing high prices is gasoline. In recent weeks Petrobras has authorized a series of increases in the price of gasoline in refineries.

To make matters worse, the rise in the dollar price should also increase the prices of medicines in Brazil. This is because countless medications, although produced in Brazil, use imported inputs. The high dollar will make these inputs more expensive. As a result, laboratories will be under pressure on costs and will certainly pass on the dollar increase to consumers.

The US currency is on the rise after Brazil's Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said the advance of the US currency is not a concern. The US currency, in recent months, jumped from R$ 3.70, July 18, to R$ 4.24, on November 26, and has remained at that level since then.

Another unfortunate statement by Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes raises the dollar and demands intervention by the Brazilian Central Bank in the foreign exchange market

Tension in the foreign exchange market in Brazil is the headline of today's leading Brazilian newspapers (27.10.2019). The newspaper O Estado de São Paulo states that the high dollar brings uncertainty about prices in Brazil and the continuation of interest rate cuts adopted by the Central Bank in the last weeks. The newspaper Valor Econômico informs that Guedes's statements made the dollar rise and forced the Central Bank to take action. Finally, the newspaper O Globo states that Guedes's statements about exchange rates led the dollar to rise to R$ 4.24 in Brazil.

In addition to Guedes' absurd statement about the AI-5, Brazil's Economy Minister also said, according to Correio Brasiliense, that he is not worried about the dollar over R$ 4.20. According to Guedes, "It's good to get used to the higher exchange rates and lower interest rates for a long time."

According to Correio Brasiliense, "in the last five months, the Brazilian international reserves have reduced by US$ 22.7 billion and in the last 12 months, have left the country US $ 40 billion".

A report produced by Swiss bank UBS indicates that, if annualized, the outflow of dollars over the past three months would total $ 75 billion. According to the latest data available from the Central Bank, the volume of international reserves totaled US$ 369.8 billion on November 18, before the interventions made today by the Central Bank to contain the currency hike.

Statement by Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, in Washington, about AI-5 is disastrous, irresponsible and very bad for the Brazilian economy, as it alienates potential investors

In a completely irresponsible speech, Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes stated, according to Folha de S.Paulo, that it is not possible to be frightened by the idea of someone asking for AI-5 in the face of a possible radicalization of street protests in Brazil.

According to the Correio, he defended the deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL-SP), son of President Jair Bolsonaro, who considered the implementation of a similar act in cases of protests against the current government. According to Guedes, the speech was "a reaction to what he called summons from the left."

Guedes' irresponsible declaration generates political instability in the country and acts against the economic reforms that Guedes himself intends to make. Jair Bolsonaro's own members are largely to blame for the country's ongoing political crisis, as they constantly give statements such as these that put the nation in a political crisis.

This and countless other statements by senior government officials are obviously bad for business and economic stability because no one invests in an unstable country, where the minister of economics talks about ending rights and abolishing democracy. Paulo Guedes, who calls himself a liberal, is actually much closer to Latin American dictators like Pinochet and Maduro.

The AI-5 was the Brazilian military regime's hardest blow to the rights of Brazilian citizens. Set up on December 13, 1968, during the rule of General Costa e Silva, it was the most complete expression of the dictatorship, as it allowed the military to arbitrarily punish any Brazilian citizen considered an enemy of the regime.

It institutionalized the annulment of mandates of opposition deputies, suspended political rights and promoted layoffs and forced retirements of anti-regime civil servants. The AI-5 allowed the closing of the National Congress and other legislative houses of the country indefinitely. Since the establishment of AI-5, repression of opponents and torture practices have resurfaced in Brazil. It was the beginning of the terrible Years of Lead.

#ai5nuncamais

Petrobras employees (PETR3; PETR4) are forbidden to strike by the Brazilian Superior Labor Court (TST)

The Brazilian Superior Labor Court (TST) upheld Petrobras' injunction preventing oil tankers from going on strike on Monday, 25. The schedule was to stop for four days, arguing that the company is breaching parts of the collective bargaining agreement, of clauses concerning safety at work and the environment and rights granted to contractors, according to the Single Federation of Oilers (FUP).

Meanwhile, Petrobras' largest refinery, Replan, in Paulínia (SP), recorded a 25% increase in oil refining last month, with 1,769,770 cubic meters (m³) processed in October representing the best. performance for the period since 2015.

Amazon deforestation reaches frightening levels and rises 29.5% in 2019; almost 10.000 square kilometers were cut down

According to experts, Jair Bolsonaro's anti-environmental speech, coupled with the dismantling of oversight bodies, prompted a clearing of the forest in 2019.

As published by the Climate Observatory, a coalition of dozens of environmental conservation organizations in Brazil, "this is a direct result of Bolsonaro's strategy of dismantling the Ministry of Environment, demobilizing enforcement, shelving plans. to combat deforestation of previous governments and to empower environmental criminals in his speech, and the president himself has proudly stated that he had sent his anti-environment minister, Ricardo Salles, 'to put the scythe into the IBAMA Renewable Natural Resources] '.Salles obeyed."

According to data from Prodes 2019 (Satellite Legal Amazon Deforestation Monitoring Project), released by Inpe (National Institute for Space Research), the deforested area in the Amazon was 9,762 km² between August 2018 and July 2019, the highest since 2008. This figure represents a 29.5% increase over the same period last year (August 2017 to July 2018), when deforestation was 7,536 km².

This increase represents the highest rate since 2008 and also the biggest jump from year to year in the last 22 years. For scientists like Carlos Nobre, this deforestation should transform part of the Amazon territory into an impoverished savanna. Obviously, this is very serious, which should affect the climate in the region and reduce, due to the change in the country's rainfall cycle, the capacity of Brazilian agricultural production. Deforestation is horrible for the environment and also bad for business.

This week, during a talk at the Wilson Center Brazil Institute in Washington, Brazil's agriculture minister, Tereza Cristina, heard several questions about problems in the Amazon at meetings with officials and investors. Therefore, the risk of an increase in the boycott of Brazilian products is getting bigger.

Petrobras (PETR3; PETR4) announces price adjustment for gasoline

According to site G1, Petrobras announced a 2.8% increase in fuel value. The increase comes after importers point out that the rise in international gasoline prices implies a lag, as one industry association said.

The Brazilian state-owned company increased by 2.8% the price in refineries on 11.18.2019.

With the adjustment of about 5 cents, the average price of gasoline should be around R$ 1.84 per liter, higher since the end of May (R$ 1.95), according to data from Petrobras compiled by Reuters.

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes says Brazil and China are negotiating the creation of a free trade area

Brazil and China have begun negotiations, according to Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, about the possibility of establishing a free trade area between the two countries.

The Brazilian minister said the negotiations are at an early stage. However, under the rules of Mercosur, a group of which Brazil is part, member countries of this bloc cannot individually enter into bilateral agreements involving tariff elimination.

For Guedes, these negotiations are to make Brazil "integrate into global chains".

Paradoxically, President Jair Bolsonaro, who was a harsh critic of China during the 2018 campaign, now seems very keen to get closer to the communist nation. After meeting in Brasilia with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Bolsonaro said the Asian giant "is part of Brazil's future."

This week, the governments of Brazil and China sign nine acts of cooperation. Both advocate a closer approach between the two nations in technology. Brazil will export agribusiness expertise to the Chinese, while China, according to the Brazilian Infrastructure minister Tarcisio de Freitas, may take part in auctions for two railroads in Brazil.

Without government, Bolivia experiences chaos and violence; Evo Morales seeks asylum in Mexico

President Evo Morales's resignation has left Bolivia plunged into a wave of violence that has led police in La Paz to declare unable to guarantee public safety and ask the military for help. At night Evo announced that he was leaving for Mexico, which offered him asylum. With the resignation of the president, the deputy and the leaders of the House and Senate, the presidency would be with Jeanine Áñez, second vice president of the Senate.

One day after resigning the presidency of Bolivia, Evo Morales asked Mexico for asylum, as leaders negotiated a constitutional solution to the impasse by calling elections. Congress must meet today and try to remedy the power vacuum. Clashes continue to take place in La Paz. 

According to the newspaper O Globo, Bolivia's far-right Christian fundamentalist opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho asks for help to Brazil's far-right Christian fundamentalist run a foreign ministry to ask for help to stop now-ousted leader Evo Morales.

Meanwhile, in Bolivia, conflicts are becoming increasingly violent. Bolivia's Mayor of Vinto Patricia Arce, affiliated with President Evo Morales's party, has been subjected to a series of violence that reflects the practices of totalitarian state torture and gender-based political violence in Latin America. She had her hair cut forcibly and was covered in a red dye and forced to walk barefoot for miles after a rally of opponents to Evo Morales. 

Busy weekend in Latin America, with Lula out of prison in Brazil and Evo Morales resigning from office in Bolivia; Brazilian financial market reacts badly, Bovespa falls and the dollar opens in fall in Brazil this Monday

The crisis in Bolivia, Lula's exit from prison and infrastructure projects are the main issues in Brazilian newspapers this Monday. The State of Sao Paulo states that Evo and three others in the power line resign in Bolivia; Globo publishes that Evo Morales resigns under protests and military pressure and Correio Braziliense reports that Evo Morales resigns and Bolivia is left without government; according to Folha de S.Paulo says that Lula will start a series of trips around the country starting in Pernambuco, in the Brazilian Northeast; and Valor Econômico reports that only 6% of cities meet basic sanitation goals.

Pressured by opponents, police, and military, Evo Morales left Bolivia's presidency after nearly 14 years in power. After he left power, there was a cascading departure from the authorities that formed the constitutional succession line. This has created an unknown about who will take over the government in the country.

Lula

According to the president of Cebrap (Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning) and philosophy professor at Unicamp (State University of Campinas), Marcos Nobre states that with the release of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the country's political scenario changes completely. For him, the PT, Lula's party, should present an opposition program to President Jair Bolsonaro.

Former President Lula has said he will oppose the government of Jair Bolsonaro. That means new pressure movements on the already weakened government. Lula represents a larger organization of the opposition to the government, which until now was disorganized. Since the government of Jair Bolsonaro has great difficulty defending its theses in the Brazilian Congress, the reinforcement and reorganization of the opposition could make even more difficult the economic change projects proposed by the current government.

Basic sanitation in Brazil

Meanwhile, in Brazil, according to the Valor Econômico newspaper, only 6% of Brazilian cities meet the basic sanitation goals of the new sanitation legal framework. Of the 5,570 Brazilian cities, only 343 already have a sanitation coverage rate above 90% for water supply and 60% for sewage collection and treatment.

Lula raises the tone of criticism of Jair Bolsonaro's government and asks Brazilian people to take to the streets as the people of Chile are doing

In his second speech after leaving prison, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said that current Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro should “ govern for the Brazilian people and not for the militiamen of Rio de Janeiro”.

Speaking in the vicinity of the São Bernardo do Campo Metalworkers Union in the state of Sao Paulo, Lula said Bolsonaro had never worked in his life and that Bolsonaro should not interfere with investigations to find out who killed Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Mariele Franco.  Lula also said he began working in a metallurgical at the age of thirteen while Bolsonaro retired at the age of 33 in Brazilian military service.

According to the Professor of International Relations at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV) in São Paulo, Oliver Stuenkel, "most analysts believe that Lula's release from prison will make it harder for a centrist candidate to win in 2022 because the ideological spectrum will be dominated by the Workers Party and Bolsonaro. But Lula, at least for now, cannot run for office".

Even free, Lula cannot run for presidential succession. Under the Clean Record Law, the former president needs to have a sentence annulled by the Supreme Court to be entitled to officially apply for the 2022 election.

Mega auction of oil fields in Brazil fails and ends with figures far below that what was expected by the government of Jair Bolsonaro; paradoxically, Brazilian state-owned Petrobras (PETR3; PETR4) dominated the auction by a government that claims to be liberal in the economy

The pre-salt auction that took place today in Brazil was the dream of neoliberals who are in charge of the country's economy. Despite every announcement made, the lion was a resounding failure. Atapu camp did not even receive an offer.

The Brazilian government announced that it expected to raise more than $ 100 billion reais. However, in the end, the government only managed to get only $ 69,9 billion, which was received with great frustration.

The poor performance of the auction was not well received by the Brazilian financial market. One of the main developments of the fiasco was the dollar soaring and hitting the R$ 4,08.

The failure of the auction was therefore very badly received by the Brazilian financial agents. After the lion, in addition to the rise of the dollar, future interest rates also rose. 

Petrobras, a Brazilian state-owned company, bought 100% of a block and 90% of the largest one on the auction in partnership with Chinese state-owned companies CNODC and CNOOC.

It is very paradoxical that the auction made by a neoliberal government was dominated by Chinese communist companies and a Brazilian state-owned company.

The auction denied analysts that were saying that the pre-salt would be sold for a very low price. That did not happen simply because no multinational (BP walks Total) wanted to participate in the auction. The auction also denied those who were saying that this auction would be a kind of resurgence of Brazil's economy. At the end of the story, most of the auctioned oil went to Petrobras and the rest went to China.

Completely disconnected from the Brazilian reality, Paulo Guedes, Brazil's economy minister, complains about the country's poor because they do not save money

About to submit an economic package, Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes gave an interview to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, which President Jair Bolsonaro said he would cancel the signatures made by government agencies and the same newspaper that the president accuses to be one of the hyenas that attack the government.

In Paulo Guedes's interview with Folha de S.Paulo, the minister's complete disconnection from the reality of most Brazilians is evident.

Guedes, speaking in his interview that "the rich capitalize on their resources. The poor consume everything," shows that he simply cannot understand the Brazilian reality. This complete disconnect coupled with the inability to interpret shows that the minister is simply saying that our savings problem lies in the fact that the poor do not spare. It is a mixture of lack of empathy and ignorance.

Only a completely unprepared economist does not realize how terrible it is to claim that Brazilian probes do not spare. In 2019, in Brazil, the poorest 50% live with 413 reais per month (about 100 dollars). How those people are going to save money?

In the current Brazilian reality, of high unemployment and increased informality, about 104 million Brazilians live with the equivalent of half a minimum wage, currently at 998.00 reais.

According to economist Monica de Bolle, "It is well established - and almost tautological - that the poor are more likely to consume than the rich." According to her, "the reason is not that they undertake little, but that the resources they have are often enough just to reach the end of the month. Often not even that."

Number of microentrepreneurs grows 13% in Brazil

According to data from research made by Boa Vista, the number of Individual Microentrepreneurs (MEI) in Brazil rose 13% over the previous three months. According to the report, the growth in the number of microentrepreneurs continues to happen due to the high unemployment rate in the country. Reflecting on the slow recovery of the economy, individual microentrepreneurship has become an outlet for those who have lost their jobs with a formal contract in the crisis.

The number of individual microentrepreneurs (MEIs) is already over 9 million, according to federal government data. This is the first time that the number of self-employed Brazilians has exceeded this mark.  According to the IBGE, at the end of the quarter ended in August, self-employment reached 24.3 million people, the highest level ever recorded in the country.

The survey points out that Brazilians are undertaking by necessity, which is very different from starting an innovative company. Due to the gigantic number of 9 million microentrepreneurs, most open businesses come out of necessity and do not have a long life. Most companies close in 3 years, according to Sebrae.

So the growth in the number of microentrepreneurs is actually increased underemployment, forced entrepreneurship, and job insecurity.

In an unacceptable statement, Federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonado, the son of current Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, said the current government could implement a new AI-5, which means the closing of the National Congress and the persecution, torture and extermination of opponents

Federal Deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son of current Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, explicitly threatened in an interview by saying: "If the left radicalizes this point, we will need to have an answer. And one answer may be via a new AI-5."

The AI-5 was the most repressive decree of the Brazilian military dictatorship in the decades of 1960, 1970, and 1980 that eliminated all constitutional rights and solidified a bloodthirsty and totally arbitrary military rule.

Several parties like PSOL and political movements like Livres from a broad political spectrum will represent against Eduardo Bolsonaro in the House and ask for the cancellation of his mandate for the crime of advocating for the closing of the National Congress, and the persecution of political opponents. Eduardo's speech is clearly against the Brazilian Constitution and other democratic institutions. The requests must be made to the Ethics Council of the House of Representatives and the Supreme Federal Court (STF).

Countless politicians have responded to Eduardo's speech about AI-5, for all the speeches of Jair Bolsonaro's son represent a clear setback and high risk to Brazilian democracy.

Copom reduces basic interest rates of the Brazilian economy to the lowest level in history: 5% per year; the rate is expected to continue to be reduced at future meetings

For the third time in a row, in a decision that was already expected by financial analysts, the Brazilian Central Bank (BC) lowered the basic interest rates of the economy. Unanimously, the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) reduced the Selic rate to 5% per year, with a 0.5 percentage point cut.

With today's decision, Selic reached its lowest level since the beginning of the Central Bank's historical series in 1986. From October 2012 to April 2013, the rate was maintained at 7.25% per year and has now been readjusted. gradually until it reached 14.25% per annum in July 2015. In October 2016, the Copom again reduced the basic interest rates of the economy until the rate reached 6.5% per annum in March 2018. Now the country reached 5% per annum.

At the meeting of the Monetary Policy Council (Copom) of the Brazilian Central Bank, which took place today, a new 0.50 pp cut in the Selic rate was practically anticipated at the next meeting, in December 2019. The Copom also introduced, in the balance sheet risks, the lagged effects of the stimulating monetary policy (upward risk of inflation) and mentioned that the current stage of the economic cycle recommends caution in any further adjustments in the degree of the stimulus.

The minute of the Copom meeting also pointed to projections for the 2020 IPCA between 0.30 pp and 0.40 pp below the 4.0% target. Therefore, the Selic terminal is expected to be between 4.0% and 4.5% in the coming months. More cuts thus likely as reforms go through, according to the Copom minute. 

Bloomberg, AFP, Washington Post, and AP echo the news from Jornal Nacional that says that investigation cites visit of the suspected man of the murderer of Marielle Franco to Bolsonaro's house in Rio de Janeiro on the day of the murder

According to AFP, "Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has angrily denied links to last year's assassination of a prominent politician in Rio, after reports that a suspect in the murder investigation visited his residence before the killing". According to The Washington Post, Brazilian president had lashed "out at media over links to left-wing politician’s murder". According to Bloomberg, Bolsonaro was "furious as his name is cited in murder case".

President Bolsonaro has photos of militants linked to the Marielle murder, the president's sons also have a photo of these militiamen and their family members, some of whom worked in the offices of the president's sons, and his youngest son has dated the daughter of one of the militia members who has even been arrested.

Although the formal accusation is relatively fragile against Bolsonaro, since the president would be at the same time in Brasilia, at the National Congress, which is more than 1,100 kilometers away from the city of Rio de Janeiro, the very nervous reaction of the president showed that the information released by Rede Globo's Jornal Nacional has left Jair Bolsonaro visibly altered.

In his transmission on Facebook, the president made harsh criticism of Rede Globo media group, saying that this company made his life a living "hell". Bolsonaro even threatened to revoke the station's concession, which will have to be renewed in 2022.

Today, according to AP, Bolsonaro continued to say things in a tone far above the expected of a president. On his website, AP published that "Brazil’s president launched a fiery defense of his far-right government on Wednesday during a visit to Saudi Arabia".

Jornal Nacional, from Rede Globo, Brazil's largest television news program, reported today (29.10.2019) that there is a nominal mention of President Jair Bolsonaro in the investigation into the murders of Councilwoman Marielle Franco of Rio de Janeiro and her driver, Anderson Gomes

Today's edition of Jornal Nacional released a nominal mention to President Jair Bolsonaro in the case of the murders of Rio de Janeiro's councilwoman Marielle Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes, in 2018.

According to Jornal Nacional, the concierge of the condominium where Bolsonaro lived at the time said in a statement that someone with his voice authorized the entry of one of the suspects of the councilwoman's death on the day of the crime. The suspect, Élcio Queiroz, entered the condominium saying that he would visit Bolsonaro House 58, but eventually went to the residence of Ronnie Lessa, suspected of shooting the councilwoman. Both Queiroz and Lessa are under arrest.

Bolsonaro's lawyer accused the story of untruth and said the president, then a federal deputy, was in the National Congress on the day of the murder of Marielle and Anderson. Social networking records reinforce the president's argument.

However, according to the Jornal Nacional, the witness who, at that time, worked as a doorman for the condominium where Jair Bolsonaro lived, said that the suspect of Marielle's death entered the condominium to seek his partner in crime claiming that he was going to Jair Bolsonaro's home.

The news fell like a bomb in Brazil. Bolsonaro, who is on an official visit to Saudi Arabia, recorded a live via Facebook. Much altered, the president accused Rede Globo, saying that the station is "a sow, scoundrel and immoral"; Rio de Janeiro Governor Wilson Witzel, who, according to Bolsonaro, reportedly leaked his statement to Jornal Nacional.

The repercussion of the case has already generated the trending topic on Twitter #QuemEstavaNaCasa58 (Who was in the house 58?) because the doorman says that someone with the voice very similar to the president answered the concierge call to the president house and released the entry of the suspect to kill Marielle and Anderson on the day the murder of this two.

Eletrobras (ELET3; ELET6) opens new layoff plan to shut down 1,681 employees by year-end; meanwhile, the Brazilian economy remains slow and with high unemployment

Eletrobras (ELET3; ELET6) announced the second consensus dismissal plan for its employees for 2019. The plan will be launched today. Eletrobras' goal is to lay off 1,681 employees by December 31, 2019. The estimated savings in this new termination plan are R $ 510 million per year, at a cost of about R $ 548 million, which represents a return. of 12.9 months.

This decision by the Brazilian state company to lay off hundreds of employees does not help the Brazilian economy. In fact, it is part of a scenario of a general fall in product prices, with a 0.04% deflation in September, registered by the Extended Consumer Price Index (IPCA), which fits in with this second option, reflecting the slow Resumption of employment. The result of September reflects a repressed consumption. In this context of economic slowdown, low inflation should be seen as a warning sign that things are not going well.

Eletrobras is on the list of state-owned companies that the government has already announced that it intends to privatize by means of a capital increase and sale of shareholding control.

On Twitter, Brazil's Environment Minister Ricardo Salles insinuates that Greenpeace is linked to oil on beaches in the northeast of the country; Greenpeace goes to court against Salles for hinting NGO link to environmental disaster

In his Twitter account, Brazil's Environment Minister Ricardo Salles has again attacked the environmental organization Greenpeace. This time, Salles hinted that the organization could be behind the oil spill that affects the country's coast.

Greenpeace public policy coordinator Marcio Astrini responded to the accusations by saying that the NGO is "going to court against false statements made by the minister."

In an official statement, Greenpeace stated that it will take “all reasonable legal measures against all statements made by Minister Ricardo Salles. The authorities have to take responsibility and account for the rule of law for their actions.”

This unacceptable behavior is present throughout Jair Bolsonaro's government. The environment minister just replicates the same practice of making irresponsible and unrealistic accusations on social networks. Brazil's own president did this when the Amazon fires gained worldwide attention. At that time, Bolsonaro said, with no proof of his claim, that NGOs could be behind the fires. 

However, investigations by the Brazilian Civil Police and Federal Police indicate, for example, that farmers and businessmen from Novo Progresso were organizers of the 'Fire Day' that burned thousands of hectares in the Amazon region.

Pension Reform is approved by the Brazilian Senate and generates the expectation of an economy of around 800 billion reais over the next 10 years, meanwhile, the Brazilian Military pensions remain untouched and highly deficient

The Social Security Reform approved yesterday in the Brazilian Senate will reach more than 72 million Brazilians, including workers from the private sector and the public service. The main change will be the establishment of minimum retirement age for workers in these two sectors. Now the minimum retirement age for men is 65 and for women 62. The rule also applies to politicians. Pension Reform also extinguished retirement by the time of contribution.

Despite so many signs that the peoples of Latin America no longer support the social inequality caused by the reforms. Chile is an example of this, as it made a Social Security Reform very similar to the Brazilian one and impoverished many of the country's elderly. Currently, Chile is the Latin American country with the highest mortality rate of the elderly by suicide.

The Social Security Reform approved yesterday also did not address several problems. The largest of these is the retirement of the Brazilian military. Currently, this sector represents only 1% of the total retirees in the country but corresponds to 15% of the deficit. Per year, the military costs 47 billion reais per year to Brazilian Social Security and contributes 3 billion reais.

The current government, which has not affected the retirement of the military, has a strong military presence in command positions. According to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, approximately 2,500 members of the Armed Forces hold leadership positions or advise in Bolsonaro government ministries and departments.

There is a proposal for the reform of the Military Welfare in the Brazilian National Congress, but it has not been moving at the same speed as the rules that will now affect all other Brazilian workers.

According to biologists and oceanographers, oil damage and chemical contamination on the northeast coast of Brazil will last for decades

In an interview with BBC Brazil, oceanographer Mariana Thevenin, one of the coordinators of the Brazilian volunteer group Guardião do Litoral, which was formed in Salvador, the capital of Bahia, to clean beaches, estuaries and mangroves since the contamination reached the Brazilian coast, said that substances that contaminate Brazilian beaches as a result of this disaster could "easily fall into the food chain." According to her, "a small fish, for example, can eat something that is contaminated. This goes into jail until it reaches the fish we eat."

Yesterday, according to the website G1, biologists from the Solidarity Fisheries project found spots of crude oil on the area where is the aquatic plants that are the main food of a species on the Brazilian coast that is in serious danger of extinction: the Manatees (Peixe-boi). The discovery occurred in Praia da Lama, municipality of Cajueiro da Praia, 384 km from Teresina, on the Piauí Coast. According to biologists, after contamination of the area, the manatees disappeared from the site.

According to the marine biologist and professor at the University of Pernambuco (UPE), Clemente Coelho Junior, cleaning the oil slicks that had hit the reefs of Carneiros Beach, in Tamandaréa, in Pernambuco is "practically impossible" because the reefs are porous and absorb the substance. Reefs from various other locations in the northeastern Brazilian coast were also affected by the oil.

Until now 900 tons of oil were collected from the beaches. According to Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), the oil has reached 200 locations in 76 municipalities in 9 states of the Brazilian Northeast.

Cost of living in Brazil: Brazilian financial market declined, for the eleventh consecutive time, now the country's inflation forecast in 2019 fell from 3.28% to 3.26%

Financial market economists reduce the inflation estimate for this year and also a forecast for the economy's basic interest rates at the end of 2019 – from 4.75% to 4.5% per year. Some analysts believe basic interest rates in Brazil are likely to fall even lower in early 2020.

As the projections appear in the market bulletin known as the report Focus (Relatório Focus), released today (21.10.2019) by the Brazilian Central Bank (BC). The report is the result of a survey conducted last week with more than 100 financial institutions.

According to one institution, financial market analysts have lowered the inflation estimate for this year from 3.28% to 3.26%. It was the first consecutive drop in this indicator.

Members of the Federal Prosecution Service of Brazil (MPF) file a civil action against President Jair Bolsonaro's government to force him to act to combat the oil spill that is already the biggest environmental disaster in the country's coastal history

Prosecutors in nine northeastern states accuse the Brazilian federal government of omission. They decided to go to court to demand that the federal government trigger a 24-hour contingency plan, which was created in 2013 and was terminated on April 2014 by the Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) government. Following the adoption of the measure imposed by the government of Jair Bolsonaro, dozens of boards of the federal administration and two committees that were part of the National Contingency Plan for Oil Pollution Incidents (PNC), were extinguished.

So far, oil containment that is polluting several beaches in northeastern Brazil is being done by Petrobras and state governments. The governor of Bahia, Rui Costa, publicly discussed with the Minister of the Environment, Ricardo Salles, through Twitter.

Costa said Salles should "stop doing politics and work" and asked the minister if she already knew who was responsible for the "very serious environmental accident" and what the minister had done about the leak.

The lack of action by the federal government is very serious indeed. The problem of oil slicks on the Brazilian coast began in August, but only in recent days has the federal government started to act a little more intensely. However, Jair Bolsonaro, who has not visited any of the affected areas, will travel to Asia in the midst of the biggest environmental crisis of the history of the Brazilian beaches.

Since August 30, 187 regions of the Brazilian Northeast coast have been reached. 12 conservation units were polluted. Beautiful beaches that attract thousands of tourists every year were hit, as is the case of São José da Coroa Grande (PE) beach.

The images are terrifying. In many beaches, the residents themselves are gathering to try to remove the oil and save the environment, but the lack of a plan of combat and action by the federal government in these regions is evident.

Cost of living in Brazil: according to IBGE the poorest half of the Brazilian population lives on R$ 413 a month, which is a little over a 100 dollars

Data published today by the IBGE indicate that 104 million Brazilians, the poorest 50% of the population, "live" with $ 413 per month, something around 100 dollars.

If the cut selects the poorest 30% (60.4 million people), the average monthly income drops to R$ 269, just over 60 dollars per month. Meanwhile, 1% of richer Brazilians have a monthly per capita income of R$ 16,297, or something around four thousand dollars.

IBGE also pointed out that income inequality has reached a record level in Brazil. Over the past few years, the poor have gotten poorer as their incomes fell 3.8% between 2017 and 2018, while the rich got richer as their incomes grew 8.2% over the same period.

Thus, income inequality in the country reached a record level in 2018, within the historical series of the National Continuous Household Sample Survey (Pnad Contínua), initiated in 2012 by IBGE.

Banco Inter (BIDI4) and Uber negotiate partnership in Brazil, according to Reuters

According to Folha de S.Paulo newspaper and Reuters news agency, "Banco Inter and Uber are in negotiations to establish a partnership in the area of financial services." This move "demonstrates the work of the Japanese group SoftBank to integrate their business in Latin America" according to Reuters.

According to Folha de S.Paulo, "SoftBank, which is a shareholder of Uber, has acquired a stake of approximately 15% in Banco Inter this year." These negotiations aim to boost Banco Inter's business in Brazil.

In Brazil, the partnership can target both Uber's more than 600,000 drivers and Banco Inter's more than 3 million customers.

IBR-Br: performance of the Brazilian economy in August 2019 is below expectations

The Brazilian Central Bank Economic Activity Index (IBC-Br), released today, was below expectations. According to this index, a kind of signal of how is going to be the performance of Brazil's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the country's economic activity is practically stagnant in 2019.

The IBC-Br rose 0.07% in August compared to the previous month, according to seasonally adjusted data by BC.

At this rate, the Brazilian economy grows at a rate of 0.8% per year. Brazilian financial market analysts' expectations were for growth of 0.2%, so performance was well below expectations.

Camil Alimentos (CAML3) company has a 41% drop in its performance with net income of R$ 40.1 million in the second quarter of 2019

Camil Alimentos recorded a net income of R$ 40.1 million in the second quarter of 2019, considered by the company between June and August, performance 41% lower than the reported in the same period last year. Net revenue, in turn, rose 6.8% and totaled R $ 1.2 billion.

Camil is one of the largest food companies in South America. The company's EBITDA reached R$ 88.7 million (-34.1%), with a margin of 7.3% (-4.5pp).

Service sector in Brazil records the fifth fall in 2019, according to IBGE

The Monthly Survey of Services, released today by IBGE, indicated that the volume of services fell by 0.2% in August 2019, compared to July, the sector's fifth negative result in 2019. In August 2018, fall was 1.4%. Year-to-date, despite the decline, the sector advanced 0.5%.

In 12 months, there was a loss of pace of recovery, with accumulated growth going from 0.9% in July to 0.6% in August. When considering the entire historical series, which began in 2011, the volume of services in the country is still 12.1% below its best moment, reached in November 2014.

According to IBGE, retail sales, mainly from supermarkets and hypermarkets, prevented retail sales from being negative in August. The volume of trade in this month was 0.1% compared to July, indicating stability. August 2019 was also the third consecutive month that the sector obtained a positive rate, accumulating a high of 1.2% in the year.

Cost of living in Brazil: the country has deflation of 0.04% in September 2019

According to data from the Broad National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), released today by the IBGE, Brazil had, in September, a deflation of 0.04%. This is the lowest result for this month since 1998.

The main factors for this number were the fall in the cost of food away from home, which fell 0.53%, and the fall in the cost of food at home, which fell 0.70%. There was also a fall in-home appliance prices, which was 2.26%, and on TV, sound and computer prices, which was 0.90%.

The National Index of Construction (Sinapi), also released today by the IBGE, grew 0.37% in September. The main reason for the increase was the cost of labor.

The Regional Monthly Industrial Survey, also released today by the IBGE, indicates that after three months of negative rates, the São Paulo industry, the largest in Brazil, grew 2.6% in August, influenced by the increase in sugar production.