Brazil

Brazil’s central bank said it may be able to start cutting interest rates in August after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and top members of his economic team demanded clarity about the timing of an expected monetary easing cycle, Bloomberg News reported. While policymakers hadn’t ruled out an August rate cut in a short statement issued together with their June 21 decision, the minutes of that meeting published on Tuesday were much more explicit about that possibility.

Brazilian airline Azul said on Wednesday that a group accounting for roughly 86% of holders of bonds expiring in 2024 and 2026 have agreed with an exchange offer proposed by the company to delay their maturities to 2029 and 2030, Reuters reported. The offer had been announced by the company earlier this month as part of a broader restructuring plan that also included deals with aircraft lessors for lower payments, with initially 65.5% of the bondholders having agreed with it.

Annual inflation in Brazil slowed further in early June, hitting its lowest in nearly three years as the central bank signaled it may start cutting interest rates at its next meeting if the positive scenario for consumer prices consolidates, Reuters reported. In Latin America's largest economy, 12-month inflation reached 3.4% in mid-June, data from statistics agency IBGE showed on Tuesday, slightly above market expectations of 3.36% but still the lowest since September 2020.

Brazilian retailer Americanas SA is scrambling to finalize its fourth-quarter income statement even as it redoubles efforts to get creditors on side for a bankruptcy restructuring plan, Reuters reported. Americanas, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January after uncovering 20 billion reais, some $4 billion, in accounting fraud, is now negotiating changes in the plan to win over debt holders who have previously indicated they would reject it.

Brazil’s central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at a six-year high and stopped short of endorsing imminent reductions, frustrating a growing campaign for looser monetary policy from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, business leaders and top politicians, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers kept the benchmark Selic at 13.75% for a seventh straight meeting as widely anticipated late on Wednesday.

The previous management team at Brazilian retailer Americanas SA carried out fraudulent accounting practices and hid them from investors and the board of directors, according to a filing on Tuesday and comments from the current chief executive officer, Bloomberg News reported. The former executive team, led by then Chief Executive Officer Miguel Gutierrez, created false advertising contracts as a way to reduce costs on the balance sheet that ballooned to 21.7 billion reais ($4.5 billion) as of Sept.

Retail sales in Brazil rose for the second consecutive month in April driven by Easter sales, data from government statistics agency IBGE showed on Wednesday, but that was still not enough for them to meet market expectations, Reuters reported. Sales increased 0.1% in the month compared with March, IBGE said in a report, boosted by supermarket shopping but slightly below consensus of 0.3% from economists polled by Reuters, as growth lost steam from the previous month.

Brazilian airline Azul on Tuesday launched exchange offers aimed at pushing forward bonds originally set to mature in 2024 and 2026, the latest move in a broader restructuring plan it expects to remove an overhang on its stock, Reuters reported. The exchange offers total $1 billion and follow a deal with aircraft lessors to give them equity and tradeable debt in exchange for lower payments, a deal seen reducing lease payments by a total 5.4 billion reais ($1.11 billion) in the long term.

The main shareholders at embattled Brazilian retailer Americanas SA tentatively have agreed to retain their stake for about three years as part of a restructuring plan, Bloomberg News reported. The precise lock-up period for the billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Sicupira is still under discussion and creditors are requiring it to last into 2027 as a guarantee shareholders will keep helping to rescue the company, the people said, asking not to be named because the negotiations are not public. Lemann, Telles and Sicupira declined to comment.

Brazilian economists have reduced their long-term inflation expectations, putting an end to months of unchanged projections that the central bank had cited as a cause for concern, Reuters reported. According to the median forecast of a weekly central bank survey on Monday, 2025 inflation projections now stand at 3.9%, down from the previous estimate of 4.0% calculated since March 24. The expectation for 2026 has also decreased to 3.88% from the previous 4.0% forecast since March 17.