Brazil

Brazil's consumer prices rose slightly more than expected in February, reaching the highest monthly figure in one year driven by increased education prices, government statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Inflation, measured by the IPCA index, was at 0.83% last month compared with January. Education prices rose 4.98% in the month, responsible for 0.29 percentage points of the data as schools and universities hike tuition fees at the start of the year. Food and beverage prices also contributed to the results, IBGE said.

Agricultural powerhouse Brazil is harvesting one bumper crop after another. Yet, growers are going bankrupt at an alarming rate, dealing a blow to investors in the fast-growing $7 billion market for agribusiness funding, Bloomberg News reported. Tumbling corn and soybean prices are sparking defaults, undermining returns for so-called Fiagros, the Brazilian investment funds backed by agricultural receivables such as interest, dividends and land-lease payments.

Brazilian farmer bankruptcy requests shot through the roof in 2023, according to a new survey from data services company Serasa Experian, reflecting higher business risks for global grain traders in one of the world's biggest food producers, the New Straits Times reported. According to Serasa's data released on Thursday, there were 127 farmer bankruptcy filings last year, up 53 per cent from the year before.

The Brazilian airline Azul SA is working with Citigroup Inc. and Guggenheim Partners as it explores a potential offer for its troubled competitor Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA, Bloomberg News reported. Shares in both companies rallied. The companies are advising Azul as it weighs several options, including an outright acquisition of its rival. Azul still could decide to shelve the idea. Any offer would need approval from the country’s regulator — known as Cade.

A $1.2 billion credit line from the government expected as soon as this month will be key for Brazil’s troubled airlines as they lobby for lower jet fuel costs and for help clamping down on passenger litigation, Azul SA Chief Executive Officer John Peter Rodgerson said, Bloomberg News reported. Unlike in the U.S. and Europe, Latin American nations offered little rescue for the sector during the pandemic, leaving the region’s airlines to deal with the crisis on their own. Several buckled: Avianca Holdings SA, Latam Airlines Group SA and Grupo Aeromexico SAB filed for bankruptcy in 2020.

Bankrupt Brazilian airline Gol received U.S. court approval on Wednesday for a $1 billion loan, after resolving the concerns of a group of lenders that feared they would be sidelined by the new loan, Reuters reported. Gol had previously proposed borrowing $950 million in bankruptcy, but it allowed the objecting lenders to kick in an additional $50 million on the new loan and receive interest on that new debt, Gol's attorney Justin Cunningham said at a hearing in Manhattan.

Brazil's inflation picked up in mid-February driven by higher education prices, but landed slightly below market expectations, government statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The IPCA-15 consumer price index rose 0.78% in the period, while economists polled by Reuters expected an increase of 0.82%. In the same period of the previous month, inflation had hit 0.31%. n annual terms, inflation came in at 4.49%, below the expected 4.52%.

Light SA, a Brazilian utility that filed for bankruptcy protection last year, released a new version of its judicial recovery plan outlining capital increase of 1.5 billion reais amid ongoing negotiations with creditors to restructure its debt, Bloomberg News reported. The troubled Rio utility said in a filing that 1 billion reais will come from key shareholders, including Nelson Tanure, Ronaldo Cézar Coelho and Carlos Alberto Da Veiga Sicupira, who own 50% of the company.

Unigel has agreed a Brazilian reais (R) 3.9 billion ($791 million) debt restructuring with its creditors, which has saved the beleaguered styrenics, acrylics and fertilizer producer from filing for bankruptcy for the time being, ICIS.com reported. The agreement includes raising a new $100 million credit line that will mature in 2027, and give its shareholders “economic benefits corresponding” to 50% of the company, it said. An intention to improve the company’s governance structure is also included, although Unigel did not disclose further details.

Brazil´s state-controlled oil giant Petrobras has no plans to lower jet fuel prices as part of a wider effort to rescue struggling Brazilian airlines, Bloomberg News reported. The Rio de Janeiro-based producer can’t just lower prices when the government tells it to, Chief Executive Officer Jean Paul Prates told Bloomberg News during a recent trip to India, reiterating his opposition to such a move. Prates added that “abnormal” airfare costs continued in 2023 even while jet fuel prices fell.