Brazil

Creditors of Brazilian miner Samarco Mineracao SA, a joint venture of Vale SA and BHP Billiton Ltd, on Monday rejected the debt restructuring plan presented by the company in an online creditors assembly, Reuters reported. Creditors are expected to present an alternative plan for the debt restructuring within 30 days. Representatives of 99.3% of unsecured credits rejected the plan, while smaller creditors in different classes voted favorable to the company's plan.

Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Friday that the federal government plans to create a poverty eradication fund that would be fed from the sale of public assets, Reuters reported. Speaking at a presidential event, he mentioned plans of creating "Fundo Brasil," comprising 1 trillion reais ($210.51 billion) in real state assets and 1 trillion reais in shares of state-owned companies.

Creditors of Brazilian miner Samarco Mineracao SA have suspended their assembly to reconvene on April 1 after the company presented a new restructuring plan on Thursday, Reuters reported. Samarco, a joint venture between Vale SA and BHP Group PLC, changed its restructuring plan to offer a new alternative to pay creditors, hybrid bonds that will distribute part of Samarco's cash flow. The company did not change other conditions in the plan, such as the 75% haircut over the bonds face value.

Brazil's central bank announced tougher rules for fintechs on Friday, saying that payment institutions will be subject to regulations based on their size and complexity and raising standards for required capital, Reuters reported. The new framework, which will start taking effect in January 2023 with full implementation by January 2025, will extend the proportionality of regulatory requirements currently used for conglomerates of financial institutions to include financial conglomerates led by payment institutions.

Brazil's government is planning to allow port costs to be excluded from tax calculations to lower the cost of imports, three Economy Ministry sources told Reuters, in a measure backed by the country's industry lobby. At the same time the government is mulling cutting the tax levied on shipping freight, two of the officials said. The moves are prompted by the surge in commodity prices and higher shipping costs caused by the war in Ukraine.

Brazil's economy expanded 0.5% in the three months to December, government statistics agency IBGE said on Friday, resulting in a 4.6% expansion of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, Reuters reported. The growth from the previous quarter was higher than the 0.1% forecast in a Reuters poll of economists. The 1.6% expansion over the fourth quarter of 2020 was also larger than the 1.1% rise projected.

Brazilian miner Vale SA will sign on Friday an agreement with local authorities in which it must pay 236.7 million reais ($46.0 million) for failing to meet a legal deadline to decommission its tailings dams in the state of Minas Gerais, a document seen by Reuters showed. According to the draft agreement, struck with the Minas Gerais state prosecutors, the company will also undertake a series of obligations to remove all of its upstream tailing dams.

Samarco Mineracao on Wednesday presented a new debt restructuring proposal it hopes can win the support of creditors at a meeting on March 10 and help take the Brazilian iron ore miner out of bankruptcy, Reuters reported. Creditors of the joint venture between Vale SA and BHP Group had been expected to vote on Wednesday on the latest proposals to restructure some $5 billion in debt. But due to a lack of quorum, the meeting was rescheduled, Samarco said in a statement.

Brazil's federal public debt grew 0.05% in January from December to 5.616 trillion reais ($1.12 trillion), the Treasury said on Wednesday, with interest rates rising as the central bank tightens monetary policy to fight double-digit inflation, Reuters reported. The average interest rate on the domestic federal debt increased to 8.9% in January from 8.49% in December, the Treasury said, and the average rate on the new domestic debt issued in the 12 months to January rose to 8.92% from 8.75%.

Samarco Mineracao faces a possible creditor standoff at a meeting which has been scheduled for March 10 to vote on debt restructuring proposals which would allow the Brazilian iron ore miner to exit bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. Creditors of the iron ore joint venture between Vale SA and BHP Group were expected to vote on Wednesday on the latest proposals to restructure some $5 billion in financial debt. But due to a lack of quorum, the meeting was rescheduled, Samarco said in a statement.