Ibama inspectors responsible for protecting the Amazon suffer death threats and are victims of constant attacks; meanwhile, a fire in the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, continues to destroy this conservation unit

A report from the Fantástico program, from Rede Globo television network, the largest in Brazil, showed that agents from Ibama and ICMBio who have already escaped numerous attacks. They are victims of loggers who illegally clear the forest to sell timber illegally.

In recent days, a police operation in the Amazon region has arrested two leaders of a group accused of invading public lands and threatening those who are there to defend the forest.

Today, a fire continues to spread through the Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, destroying part of the conservation unit located in the northeast of Goiás. 3,000 hectares within the park and another 3,500 hectares around the conservation unit. The State Environmental Department has launched an inquiry to investigate the causes of the fire and appoint any responsible.

The Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, localized in the central Brazilian state of Goiás, is known for its dramatic canyons and quartz crystal rock formations, rock pools, waterfalls, some over 100 meters high, and a very important and fragile biodiverse of the Cerrado, another Brazilian region that is being destroyed by arson. The park is home to many orchid species and wildlife including armadillos, jaguars, and toucans.

To date, the fire has reached approximately 3,000 hectares within the park and more than 3,500 hectares in the surrounding area.

Brazilian government does not destroy criminal equipment in Amazon, according to website Congresso em Foco

An official document accessed by the Congresso em Foco website, if according to an IBAMA server, the reinforcements that the Federal Government sent to contain the Amazon fires refused to cooperate in at least three operations, as they could result in the destruction of illegal prospectors or loggers' machinery. 

Following the worldwide repercussion of the Amazon fires and destruction, Jair Bolsonaro's government decided to send more than 7,000 troops to the region. However, according to the document to which the site had access, this effective can not always be used to combat one of the main causes of fires: mining and illegal logging.

The current government's relationship with woodworkers and prospectors is dubious. Earlier this month, to get an idea, according to the website Revista Fórum, the Environment Minister Ricardo Salles put in command of IBAMA (Brazilian environmental police) in Ceará, Colonel Ricardo Célio Chagas Bezerra, a ruralist known for extracting wood from the Amazon. Chagas owns a logging farm in Altamira (PA), a region where "Fire Day" was triggered by ruralists who set fire to the forest in 2019.

Last Friday, an environmental enforcement operation seized six trucks loaded with illegal timber in Tucuruí, Pará. According to the state government in northern Brazil, the cargo may have been removed from the Tucuruí Lake Mosaic, a protected area managed by Ideflor-Bio.

Among the deforested species are castanheiras, maçarandubas, amapás, guajarás e angelins vermelhos.

In Mato Grosso do Sul, the Environmental Military Police (PMA) issued R$ 12,700 in fines for environmental crimes in just 24 hours.

Petrobras (PETR3; PETR4) will no longer operate in gas distribution and transportation; Petrobras raises gasoline price by 2.5%

Petrobras' Board of Directors approved the update of the company's new strategic plan, valid for the period 2020 to 2024. Under the plan, Petrobras will no longer fully operate in gas distribution and transportation and will also exit the fertilizer, distribution and distribution business. LPG and biodiesel.

The state-owned company, with the implementation of the new strategy, will act competitively in the commercialization of its own gas and will fully exit gas distribution and transportation.

Petrobras President Roberto Castello Branco said the company will be engaged in deepwater oil exploration and production and will be less indebted.

Today (27.09.2019), Petrobras has again raised the price of gasoline in refineries. The new values practiced indicating a 2.5% readjustment compared to the value of the previous day.

Informality breaks the historical record in the Brazilian labor market

According to the National Continuous Household Sample Survey (PNAD Contínua), released today by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), 41.4% of the employed population is in informality. Of the 684,000 new employed persons, 87.1% entered the job market informally.

Therefore, almost 40 million workers are in informality. According to IBGE data, in the quarter ended in August, Brazil had 38.8 million informal workers. It is the highest level of informality in the Brazilian labor market ever recorded by PNAD Contínua.

A survey by the Getulio Vargas Foundation Social Policy Center and released by the BBC Brazil shows that between 2014 and 2017, Brazil gained a contingent of 6.27 million "new poor". These are people who lost their jobs and started to live in poverty, with income from work of less than R$ 233 per month (around 56 dollars a month). As wages are the main source of income for poor and vulnerable families, poverty in Brazil in the sharpest period of the recession has increased by 33%, and the country's total poverty has risen to 23.3 million, according to the survey.

All this added to the reforms made by the Temer and Bolsonaro governments that continually removed labor rights in what was called labor market flexibility helped to increase informality. Now, in Brazil, many people work but have no vacation, 13 salário, Fundo de Garantia (FGTS). This scenario, contrary to what was promised (to improve the population's life), deepened inequality in the country.

During Michel Temer's administration, then Economy Minister Henrique Meirelles even said that the new labor law would produce over 6 million jobs. Two years after the reform comes into force, instead of the 6 million jobs promised, what is seen is a worsening of workers' quality of life and an increase in informality in the labor market.

In turn, Paulo Guedes, Minister of Economy of the Jair Bolsonaro government, also advocates the creation of a new work card in which workers will not be entitled to benefits earned by various categories under union agreements.

In less than a month, Brazilian Army actions arrest 63 people for Amazon fires; the region recorded over 30,000 fires outbreaks in August 2019

Defense Minister Fernando Azevedo e Silva announced that 63 people had been arrested and $ 8.7 million were issued in fines during just one month of a military operation to fight fires in the Amazon. In August alone, the Amazon region recorded twice as many outbreaks in the same period of 2018.

According to ICMbio's environmental emergency coordinator, Christian Berlinck, the agency found that most of the Amazonian fire outbreaks originate from human action.

Brazil recorded more than 30,000 fire outbreaks in August 2019 in the Amazon region. Almost triple the total recorded in the previous year.

During a press conference, Minister Azevedo said the following paradoxical phrase: "the Amazon is burning, but not as serious as it was said."

One criticism of the current government was to act only after the fires reached very high levels. Activist Paloma Costa, a student at the University of Brasilia, asked during a UN debate, alongside Greta Thunberg at the Climate Summit: "Do we need to see the Amazon on fire to act?"

Costa said that since 2018, "half a billion trees have been destroyed in the Amazon, and people ask me if I'm afraid to defend the forest. Environmental advocates are at risk, but I'm not afraid. I'm afraid to die. "

In recent years, since 2017, Brazil has led the Global Witness ranking of killings of environmental activists. According to the report, in 2018 alone, Brazil had at least 20 murders of environmental and human rights activists.

Meanwhile, in his UN General Assembly address, President Jair Bolsonaro said the Amazon "remains virtually untouched." However, according to the MapBiomas platform, a project that monitors satellite land cover and land use in Brazilian biomes, the Brazilian Amazon has 411 million hectares of land area. Of this total, 14.4% or 59.1 million hectares is currently not covered by its original vegetation cover.

Cost of living in Brazil: the eighth consecutive increase in electricity helps to raise annual inflation preview; inflation in Brazil in the last 12 months was 3.22%

According to the Broad Consumer Price Index 15 (IPCA-15), a survey made by IBGE, the inflation pressured by the eighth consecutive increase in electricity, in September was 0.09%, close to that registered in August (0.08%). With the result, the inflation forecast accumulated high of 2.60% in the year and 3.22% in 12 months. The housing group accounted for the largest price change of 0.76%.

According to the website G1, Transport group prices also rose 0.09%, in August the same group came from a 0.78% drop in August. The result was influenced by the 0.35% increase in fuels. Ethanol and diesel prices rose by 2.15% and 0.58%, respectively, while gasoline fell by 0.06% in Brazil.

IPCA-15 numbers reinforce the favorable inflation scenario assessed by the Brazilian Central Bank in the Copom minutes. The 3.22% increase over the past 12 months is well below the center of the target.

This raises expectations that the Brazilian Central Bank will continue to reduce the basic interest rates of the economy, the Selic. High unemployment and controlled inflation require a policy of cutting interest rates for many economists.

Brazil continues to burn: Minas Gerais region, in the southeast of the country, suffers from more than 3,400 fires in September

According to the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), Minas Gerais was affected by 6,553 heat spots in 2019 alone. The number already exceeds the total of 2018. In September alone, Inpe detected 3,446 fire spots in Minas Gerais.

The Minas Gerais government decided to set up a task force to fight fire in Rio Doce State Park. There is still no confirmation of the size of the affected area, but the State Forest Institute has received information that the fire started in a criminal way.

The team was formed by the State Forest Institute, Fire Department, Military Police, Brigades against fires, and volunteers. In total there are over 200 involved. The works are also supported by aircraft.

In another Brazilian state, in Mato Grosso, the Chapada dos Guimarães National Park is the target of arson. The state government has already declared an emergency.

A wave of violence in Rio de Janeiro has already led to the deaths of five children and gunshot wounded 11 others children in 2019, says NGO Fogo Cruzado; Friday, a Rio Military Police rifle shot, according to locals, hit the back of an 8-year-old girl, Ágatha, who couldn't resist her injuries and died

According to the Brazilian NGO Fogo Cruzado (Cross-fire, in English), last Friday Ágatha (8 years old) became the 16th child shot this year in the Greater Rio and the 5th who did not resist injuries and died. She was with her grandmother in a van when she was hit in the back yesterday at Complexo do Alemão.

Agatha's death sparked a wave of revolt in the country against the security policy of current Rio de Janeiro Governor Wilson Witzel, who is in the same political party as President Jair Bolsonaro.

Some Brazilian journalists are calling the Witzel government of necropolitical. Journalist Flávia Oliveira of O Globo wrote that "there is no shortage of complaints, images or figures confirming the escalation of state violence in the favelas."

The continuous scenes of children throwing themselves on the ground of Rio de Janeiro's public schools to avoid being the target of shootings is constant.

Politicians, journalists, artists and civil society institutions have condemned the security policy of the current governor of Rio de Janeiro. During the campaign, Witzel, in an interview with the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, even said: "The police will aim at the little head and ... fire!"

The current governor of Rio de Janeiro has already descended from a helicopter publicly celebrating when a sniper killed a man who had hijacked a bus on the Rio-Nitéroi bridge.

Then, the governor, when asked about the deaths of innocents during Rio Police operations in state slums, said that the responsibility for such killings rested with Human Rights NGOs, a very similar stance to President Bolsonaroc with NGOs who work in the Amazon because Bolsonaro accused NGOs of setting fire to the forest.

This absurd accusations only show that the PSL, the party of Bolsonaro and Witzel, is rooted in state violence, in the proximity to outlaws (loggers and prospectors in the Amazon; and the militia in Rio de Janeiro) and in condemning all that represents Western civilization and liberal democracy. To claim that innocent deaths are the fault of NGOs is as unrealistic and absurd as blaming NGOs for the thousands of fires in the Amazon.

Brazil continues to burn: on the day Twitter is overtaken by the , #ClimateStrike movement (#GreveGlobalPeloClima), part of Brazil suffers from the burning and another part from the massive arrival of smoke

Satellite images from Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) show that the smoke from our Bolivian neighbors and from states like Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul has been covering São Paulo and Paraná cities since yesterday.

The thousands of fire and burn outbreaks that hit the Amazon region and the Cerrado produced a high concentration of carbon monoxide (CO) in the air of São Paulo and Paraná. This had already happened in August in Sao Paulo when the day was night due to the smoke.

In recent days, images of fire whirlwinds in Goiás have taken over social media in Brazil. Residents of several counties in this state have had to rush out of schools and workplaces because of the frightening advances of the fire.

The worldwide demonstrations scheduled for today want to alert the authorities to the current climate emergency facing the world. In Brazil, the protests will be against the policy of socio-environmental setbacks openly practiced by the current federal government.

Yesterday, in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, the Climate Coalition activists announced that the environmental movement in the country intends to claim 15 measures for the federal government, among them the application of resources foreseen for the Climate Fund, the Amazon Fund, the Environmental Compensation and the conversion of fines. According to the manifesto released by the group, by 2050 there will be 200 million climate refugees in the world.

The Coalition is made up of institutions such as Greenpeace, the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples Association (Apib), Fight for the Forest, Families for the Climate, Socio-Environmental Tide and political parties opposed to the government of Jair Bolsonaro.

UN vetoed Brazil's speech at the New York climate summit, according to Folha de S.Paulo's Ambiência blog

According to journalist Ana Carolina Amaral, Brazil "is not on the list of countries that will speak at the UN climate summit next Monday (23.10.2019) in New York."

The blog said UN Secretary-General Luis Alfonso de Alba said: "Brazil has not put forward any plans to increase its commitment to the climate."

To make matters worse for Brazil on the international stage, today a group of 230 investment funds, which together manage 16 trillion dollars, issued a joint statement urging Brazil to take effective measures to protect the Amazon rainforest against increasing deforestation.

According to the text, the process of destruction of the Amazon rainforest may have an impact on the fund portfolios. This could be exactly what Bolsonaro government and the agribusiness lobby in Brasilia most fear.

The current Brazilian government is turning the country into a kind of international pariah. The veto of Brazil's speech at the UN climate summit is severe and could greatly damage Brazil's exports and economy.

Brazil continues to burn: fires are advancing throughout the country and are already 52% more than in 2018; Inpe has registered 123,786 outbreaks of fires in Brazil in 2019

Favored by dry weather, forest fires continue to advance throughout the country. Brasilia, for example, completed 107 days without rain and is seeing the burnings approach buildings in the federal capital. From January until Tuesday, 17, satellites of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) recorded 123,786 outbreaks of fires in Brazil, 52% more than in the same period last year, when they were 81,393. In just over half of this month, there are 33,375 outbreaks.

In the Pantanal, the largest flooded plain in the world, about 90% of the fire outbreaks come from Pantanal, according to environmentalists and the state government. For this reason, the wave of fires will be the subject of an investigation by the Corumbá MPF. The municipality, the most important urban area of the Pantanal territory, is the first in the country with the hottest spots.

So far, research has pointed to the difficulties encountered by public institutions in fighting fires. There is a lack of material resources and people.

American experts investigate the cause of fire in Chapada dos Guimarães park in Mato Grosso. The fires have already destroyed nearly 50,000 hectares of green area in the park region. In the state of Mato Grosso alone there are more than 16,000 fires in less than two months.

In Altamira, Pará, the Federal Police identified deforestation and land grabbing areas of over 15,000 hectares in Indigenous lands that belong to the Ituna Itatá people.

Jair Bolsonaro's two government ministers, Onyx Lorenzoni (Civil House) and Ricardo Salles (Environment), receive miners who act illegally in protected areas of the Amazon

According to a report in the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, men who do gold-digging operating illegally in Pará stated, in audios distributed in application groups, that demanded from ministers Onyx Lorenzoni (Casa Civil) and Ricardo Salles (Environment) the opening of an investigation against servers from Ibama and ICMBio who destroyed equipment caught by environmental crime enforcement in late August and early September 2019.

According to site G1, men linked to illegal mining responded violently to enforcement actions by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) in August 2019.

Several agents of the institute were shot at near an indigenous area in Pará on August 30. According to the Federal Police, criminal action was intended to intimidate actions to combat illegal mining in the region.

One-third of the areas affected by criminal fires in the Amazon were targeted for illegal deforestation between 2015 and 2017, according to MPF

A survey by experts from the Federal Prosecutor's Office (MPF) of Brazil, linked to the Amazon Protects Project (Projeto Amazônia Protege), indicates that one-third of the areas illegally deforested and mapped by the agency this year were burned between 2015 and 2017. Those areas correspond to a total of 170 thousand hectares. 

According to MPF experts, fire is being used in 2019 to consolidate or expand old deforestation.

According to a study by Human Rights Watch, the Amazon is a region marked by the presence of criminal organizations, violence, and impunity. The study cataloged bullying episodes involving illegal deforestation.

Human Rights Watch's work points to cases of killings of activists fighting for forest preservation and sustainable agriculture. One such case is Gilson Temponi, president of a farmers' association in Placas (PA), who was shot at home in December 2018, according to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, in the last 10 years, there have been over 300 people killed in the Amazon alone. Mostly local leaders and environmental advocates. All killed violently. The report points to a region dominated by illegal logging and the omission of authorities.

Petrobras shares (PETR3; PETR4) may be highlighted in the coming days at Bovespa (B3)

According to Credit Suisse, Petrobras (PETR3; PETR4) could benefit from the soaring oil prices. This may benefit the company, but Petrobras may also raise fuel prices in Brazil.

Meanwhile, according to the Relatório Reservado website, the Russian company Acron broke Petrobras' monopoly on gas. The group, which bought the state's own nitrogenous unit in Três Lagoas (MS), will be heavily involved in the acquisition of the input directly from Bolivia, without intermediaries. Gas is the highest estimated cost of the venture, whose works will still be completed by Acron.

Today, Petrobras reported that the FPSO P-68 platform left the Jurong Aracruz shipyard for the Berbigão and Sururu fields in the Santos basin pre-salt in São Paulo. The Brazilian state anticipates that the start of production of FPSO P-68 will occur in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to a statement published today (16.09.2019).

Brazil continues to burn: fire destroys an environmental protection area in Alter do Chão, at the state of Pará, in the Amazon region

A major fire that struck an area of environmental protection in the Ponta das Pedras community in the municipality of Santarém, in Alter do Chão, one of Pará's main tourist destinations, prompted the government of the northern state of Brazil to urgently request that Northern Military Command send aircrafts and National Force reinforcements to assist in combat near the village of Alter do Chão.

The fire gained great proportions yesterday. Today, the forest known as Capadócia, struck by fire, is targeted by the Fire Department, in partnership with the Northern Military Command of the Brazilian Army. The fire has been controlled.

Meanwhile, fires in the Brazilian Midwest cause millionaire damage to farmers. Because of the burnings, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul declared an emergency situation hoping to receive more assistance from the federal government.

In this region affected by the fires is also located the Pantanal, the largest continuous floodplain in the world. Since January, Corumbá, the largest city in the Pantanal, has recorded over 3,100 fire outbreaks.

Fight against deforestation in Brazil decreases under the government of Jair Bolsonaro

Ibama inspectors, the body responsible for environmental protection in Brazil, applied fewer warnings and fines for flora infringement until the end of August 2019 in the Legal Amazon. In Brazil, fires caused by human action or deforestation are crimes against flora, as well as the sale of illegal timber.

According to a report made by the gazetaweb site and the G1 site, servers that fight environmental crimes in Brazil say that the embargoes are not respected and that Ibama is weakened in the current administration.

The problem of environmental destruction in Brazil is not restricted to the Amazon region. Last week, the Cerrado and the Pantanal were also the targets of the same problem.

Last Thursday, the government of Mato Grosso do Sul decreed a state of emergency after more than 1 million hectares were consumed by fire.

According to Exame magazine, data from the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe) burnings show that the Pantanal closed August with 4,660 fire outbreaks, 235% more than in the same period last year and 50% more. than the historical average between 1998 and 2018.

According to the Brazilian Central Bank, Brazil's GDP in July 2019 fell 0.16% over the previous month

The Brazilian Central Bank Economic Activity Index (IBC-Br), considered a kind of informal "preview" of Brazil's GDP, fell by 0.16% in July 2019, compared to June of the same year. This is the worst result for the month in the last three years.

In the first seven months of 2019, Brazil's GDP registered growth in just two months, May (1.16%) and June (0.34%). All other months of 2019 showed negative numbers.

According to the Focus Bulletin, a survey conducted by the Brazilian Central Bank, the financial market forecast for 2019 GDP is 0.87%.

Brazilian services and commerce sectors surprise with unexpected growth but do not recover losses in the year, according to IBGE

According to the Monthly Survey of Services, released by IBGE today (12.09.2019), there was a 0.8% growth in the service sector between June and July 2019, in Brazil. Analysts and economists expected growth of around 0.4%. This is the best result since December 2018. However, despite this slight recovery, Brazil's services sector is still 11.8% below the record reached in May 2014 and 1.2% lower than December last year.

Another sector that posted positive numbers this week was the Commerce sector in Brazil. According to the Monthly Trade Survey, released by IBGE, retail sales in Brazil increased 1% in July, compared to June, and had the third positive month in a row. It is the best result for July since 2013 when the advance was 2.7%.

This scenario reinforces the projections that bet on more cuts in the basic interest rate in Brazil, Selic, by the Brazilian Central Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) in the coming months.

The first days of September 2019 in Brazil are marked by 7,304 fire outbreaks in the Cerrado and 6,200 in the Amazon rainforest

According to data from the Bank of the Burn Program, of the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe), indicate that the Cerrado surpassed the Amazon in the number of fire outbreaks in Brazil.

The main causes, according to experts, are fires caused by human action and those that spread due to the heatwave that affects the Cerrado region in recent days.

The Cerrado, the second largest biome in South America, is rich in biodiversity. Nearly 12,000 species of plants have been identified, along with thousands of different types of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, butterflies, and other animals. Despite its undeniable importance, according to the Ministry of Environment, only about 8% of the Cerrado is legally protected by protected areas.

Increasing sales of electric cars in Europe lead Volkswagen to shift its combustion engine production to Brazil and Argentina

Motivated by the wave of electrification of European cars, Volkswagen decided to transfer part of its production of combustion engines from Germany to factories in San Carlos, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Cordoba, Argentina, where the electric car segment still crawling, according to Pablo Di Si, president of the automaker for South America.

This shows that while the global automotive industry is going towards its "electrification", Brazil's automotive market still has few electric car models. There are currently 4 electric models and some hybrids. This means that the Brazilian market will lag behind the industry's technological innovations for some time.

Thus, we will continue driving excessively expensive cars that pollute the environment for years to come.

IBGE indicates that Brazil should have a record harvest of 239.8 million tons in 2019

According to the IBGE Systematic Survey on Agricultural Production, the August estimate for the 2019 crop points to a new record in grain production in Brazil. If the forecast of 239.8 million tons of grain is confirmed, it will exceed by 1.4 million tons the record obtained for the 2017 harvest. In 2018, production was 226.5 million tons.

The expectation of a larger harvest of second-crop corn increased the forecast for the national grain crop in 2019.

Brazil is expected to produce 7.2 million tonnes of winter cereals this year, with 80.8% of this total wheat (5.8 million tonnes). Oats account for 13.7% (985.6 thousand tons), and barley 5.5% (391.6 thousand tons).

According to Inpe, Brazil today has over 100,000 outbreaks of fire

Brazil has exceeded 100,000 outbreaks of fire, according to Inpe. In the municipality of Chapada dos Guimarães, army firefighters, brigade members, and military combat three major fires. One of them, inside the National Park.

A survey by the Acre Environment Secretariat in partnership with the Federal University of Acre (Ufac) Gamma Laboratory reports that the state in northern Brazil, in the Amazon region, had more than 27,000 hectares of degraded areas this year with burned.

Between January and August 2019 alone, more than 46,000 outbreaks of fires were recorded in the Amazon, an increase of over 100% over the same period in 2018.

The wave of out-of-control fires is not restricted to Brazil. In Paraguay, the fires produced destruction and a smokescreen that covered the Brazilian city of Ponta Pora. Today there are at least 2,580 fire outbreaks in various regions of Paraguay, 150 km from the Brazilian border.

Retailers lose value at Bovespa (B3) after Amazon Prime launches in Brazil; Shares of B2W (BTOW3), Lojas Americanas (LAME4), and Magazine Luiza (MGLU3) fall

There is a scenario of short-term pressure on the Brazilian Stock Exchange related to Brazilian retail companies. With the start of Amazon Prime direct sales in the country, stocks of Brazilian retailers were the worst performers of the benchmark index of the Brazilian stock market, the Ibovespa.

B2W, Lojas Americanas, and Magazine Luiza were among the biggest losses yesterday. Today this scenario can be repeated. Therefore, the launch of Amazon Prime will bring volatility to the stocks of e-commerce companies in Brazil in the short term.

Amazon Prime came to the Brazilian retail market offering free shipping, movies, and music for $ 89 a year or $ 9.90 a month. Which will give you access to Prime Video, Prime Music and Twitch Prime.

What most stood out in the media was the announcement of free delivery of Amazon Prime to the capitals of the Southeast and South of Brazil, as well as Brasilia and Goiania. Amazon will also offer express shipping at no additional charge from 2 business days, with no minimum purchase value, for products sold under the Prime seal.

Paulo Guedes, Brazil economy minister, says he plans to create new CPMF, a tax capable to collect up to 150 billion

In an interview with Valor Econômico newspaper, Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes announced that the country will have a new tax along the lines of the former CMPF (Provisional Contribution on Financial Movement).

The announcement is a kind of electoral fraud because Jair Bolsonaro, during the presidential campaign, promised not to recreate the tax, including calling it "disgrace" and "damn".

In the interview, Guedes said he would propose rates of 0.2% to 1% on each transaction, but it would be up to Congress to set the size of the tax. 

Another criticism about the new tax is its fate. According to Guedes, the new CPMF will have a rate of 0.2% to 1% and may raise R$ 150 billion. The old CPMF was created to increase the health budget but was not used for this purpose. Now the new tax does not even have this varnish.

The evident contradiction of government that claims to be neoliberal, but creates taxes to increase revenue. The tax, if created, will have a ripple effect and will produce distortions in the productive structure.

Several liberal-biased movements that were supporting the government are already criticizing the move. Liberal think tank Ilisp has already stated in his Twitter account that he will campaign against the new tax.

Bradesco (BBDC4) estimates that the basic interest rate of the Brazilian economy, the Selic, could close 2019 at 4.75%

Banco Bradesco revised its forecast for Brazil's basic interest rate, Selic. Now the bank's expectation is that Selic will close 2019 at 4.75% and remain at this level until the end of 2020. The previous forecast was that interest would be at 5%.

For Bradesco, the Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) of the Brazilian Central Bank should promote two further cuts of 0.50 percentage points in the September and October meetings. Afterward, Bradesco believes that the Copom will reduce 0.25 percentage points in the December meeting. That would lead to 4.75% the rate that currently stands at 6%.

This bet by Bradesco increases the pressure on the Copom and the Brazilian Central Bank, as it adds to the criticism that many economists are making against the current government's economic policy.

For economist Laura Carvalho, for example, the Copom "amid high unemployment, economic stagnation, rising wage inequalities, and below-target inflation expectations, waited" until the end of July 2019 to reduce unemployment. Selic rate by 0.5 percentage point to 6% per annum.

So far, the fall of Selic and the approval of the Social Security Reform have not been enough to leverage the Brazilian GDP. Jair Bolsonaro's government has so far presented no plans to reactivate the Brazilian economy. This, coupled with the absurd statements of both the president and ministers of his government, make the future scenario of the Brazilian economy even more uncertain.

According to Maersk, Brazil's foreign trade growth expectations slow to 2020

According to the PortoseNavios website, Maersk report indicates that hopes for resumption of Brazilian foreign trade in 2020 have fallen. 

According to PortoseNavios, "For the largest shipper in the world, there is a possibility of recovery only for 2021 due to the slower global scenario, due to the trade war between the largest powers in the world - China and the United States -, and Brexit, with the departure of the Great Britain of the European Union. In the regional context, the Argentine crisis compresses Brazilian exports, while in the local context the reason is the poor logistics infrastructure of the country".

In an interview with the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, Maersk's Head of Product Management of the East Coast in South America, Matias Concha, stated that "unfortunately Brazil is failing to materialize external opportunities. This is the case of the real, whose devaluation is favorable for exports."

For him, the Brazilian government needs to invest in "in transportation, logistics, and infrastructure. If they do not occur, they will prevent Brazil from taking advantage of its potential."

Asked by NSC Total, if any embargoes by Brazilian positions, especially in the environmental area, could impact the market, Concha stated that "any barrier, any difficulty for trade is a concern. Whether an embargo, tax or tariff. We experienced this last year, we had a blockade of Brazilian protein exports to Russia, and that had an impact. What happens is that after 15 months of importing Brazilian meat, they were able to find different providers and today they can live without the need for Brazilian meat."

Cost of living in Brazil: inflation was 0,11% in August, according to IBGE

According to data from the Extended National Consumer Price Index (IPCA), released today by the IBGE, August inflation in Brazil slowed to 0.11%, after registering high of 0.19% in July.

The IBGE indicated a deflation in the Food & Beverage (-0.35%) and Transport (-0.39%) groups. Housing, with a high of 1.19%, was the group that positively pressured inflation. Thus, official inflation in Brazil was 0.11% in August and 3.43% in the last 12 months.

According to data from the National Association of Automotive Vehicle Manufacturers (Anfavea), vehicle production in Brazil fell 7.3% in August. Industry exports plunged 34.6% in August 2019 compared to August 2018.  This result was greatly impacted by the crisis in Argentina, the largest buyer of cars produced in Brazil.

This scenario, coupled with the very weak performance of the Brazilian economy, reinforces the idea that 2019 may have a negative GDP in Brazil.

Brazilian agricultural production value hits record: R$ 343.5 billion

According to the Municipal Agricultural Survey (PAM) 2018, released today by IBGE, the value of Brazilian agricultural production hit a record and reached R $ 343.5 billion in 2018, an increase of 8.3% compared to 2017.

Growth was driven by higher commodity prices such as soybeans (13.6%), cotton (52.3%) and coffee (22%), in a year when the grain crop fell 4.7% and the harvested area 0.5%. Despite the favorable results, the 2017 grain surplus was not exceeded in 2018, mainly due to the 16% decrease in Brazil's corn production.

According to the IBGE, "trade disputes between the United States and China, crop failures in Argentina and Chinese demand for herbaceous cotton have boosted the prices of major Brazilian commodities".

Sao Paulo, Mato Grosso, and Paraná were the states with the highest value of agricultural production in 2018 in Brazil.

Brazilian Environment Minister Ricardo Salles gives an interview to a white Canadian supremacist

Canadian YouTuber Stefan Molyneux published on his social networks, on the last day 2.09.2019, an interview with the Brazilian Minister of Environment, Ricardo Salles. The video lasts 24 minutes. In them, both speak of the recent environmental crisis involving the burning of the Amazon rainforest. 

Molyneux, however, is known for being a supporter of white supremacist ideas as well as free liberalism of state regulation. 

The interview is very revealing, as it indicates that Salles, who has decided to tackle countries like Germany and Norway, which were helping to protect the Amazon through the money they sent to the Amazon Fund, is willing to use part of his time to give an interview for an obscure social media figure rather than negotiating with the nations mentioned.

The interview points to the amateurism of the current administration, which, amid an unprecedented environmental crisis, makes accusations against possible international partners and approaches controversial figures, to say the least, and of no political importance like Stefan Molyneux.

Prior to being appointed to the post of the environment minister, Salles, like Molyneux, was a minor and controversial figure in Brazilian politics. Prior to being minister, Ricardo Salles was a federal deputy candidate for the ultra-liberal Partido Novo. During the campaign, Salles used social networks to spread messages that incited violence.

Salles's candidacy number was 30-06 in allusion to a type of ammunition, which he in his messages promised to use to combat the "boar plague" and "against the left and the MST", Landless Workers' Movement.

The Partido Novo itself disapproved of Salles's publications during the campaign. In recent weeks, the Partido Novo has tried to explain that Salles, who remains a member of the Partido Novo, did not represent the party in the federal government. Paradoxically, the Partido Novo supports the government in House votes, has a cabinet minister, but publicly says it has no connection with Jair Bolsonaro.

These are not the only problems represented by Salles, in December 2018, he was convicted of administrative misconduct and had his political rights suspended for three years. The sentence, handed down by Judge Fausto José Martins Seabra, Salles allegedly committed, when he was secretary of the environment of the government of São Paulo, various irregularities and disarray that could harm the environment.

Brazilian industrial production falls for the third consecutive month, according to IBGE; Dollar keeps rising in Brazil

The Brazilian industry recorded production losses in 11 of the 26 activities surveyed from June to July, according to the Monthly Industrial Survey data released by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). In the global average, production fell 0.3%, the third month followed by a negative result, accumulating a loss of 1.2% in the period. Compared to July 2018, Brazilian industrial production fell 2.50%.

The drop in Brazilian industrial production indicates that the country entered the third quarter of 2019 in a bad scenario, as the accumulated industrial production of 2019 is negative: -1.7%. The scenario is therefore very difficult for the Brazilian economy. Brazilian economic activity is expected to remain very weak in 2019.

Meanwhile, yesterday the US currency rose 0.98% in Brazil and reached its highest rate since the historic record almost 1 year ago: R$ 4.1822. In Brazil, in August, the dollar rose 8.46%. Brazil lost only to Argentina, where the US currency rose 35.80% in the same period.

CNPq scholarship cuts may paralyze most scientific research carried out in Brazil #fantastico

A report on the Fantastic television program, one of the most popular in Brazil, showed the drama of Brazilian researchers who lost their scholarships paid by CNPq.

CNPq scholarships allow the best students, children of poor families, who participate, for example, in the mathematics Olympics, to receive a monthly budget.

The theme generated the hashtag #fantastico on Twitter in Brazil. Thousands of Brazilians complain about the government's stance in cutting these exchanges. They also criticize the fact that Bolsonaro and his sons spend public money on unimportant things, such as painting the presidential plane.

In total, there are 84,000 scholarships that can be unpaid at the end of the year.

According to Datafolha, President Jair Bolsonaro's disapproval rose from 33% to 38%. Certainly, the high unemployment coupled with measures such as CNPq cut-offs, the government's evident inability to command national policy, the environmental policy that seeks, among other things, to liberate mining on indigenous lands, and the absurd statements of the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, greatly worsen the assessment of the current government. According to the survey, 44% of Brazilians do not trust the president's word.