Brazil posted negative foreign direct investment (FDI) of $3.9 billion in December, the worst monthly figure ever recorded in Latin America's biggest economy, bringing the 2021 total to $46.4 billion, the central bank said yesterday, Reuters reported. The figure last month was slammed by a negative $6 billion in reinvested profits in the country, according to the central bank. In the series started in 1995, Brazil had recorded negative monthly FDI on two previous occasions - the $24 million reported in March 1995 and the $103 million in July 2016.

Brazil's IPCA-15 consumer price index rose 0.58% in the month to mid-January, decelerating from previous figures but at a pace that still exceeded expectations, statistics agency IBGE said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The monthly rise was higher than the 0.43% increase foreseen by economists in a Reuters poll but slowed from a 0.78% surge in December thanks to lower transportation prices. According to IBGE, prices rose in the remaining eight of nine groups of goods and services covered. The most significant impact came from foods and drinks, with a monthly increase of 0.97%.

Brazilian power company Companhia Energetica de Sao Paulo (CESP) on Monday said its board of directors has approved terms of a deal with conglomerate Votorantim SA and Canada Pension Plan Investments Board (CPPIB) to merge the trio's energy assets in Brazil, Reuters reported. CESP is expected to become a full subsidiary of Votorantim and CPPI's joint venture VTRM Energia once the deal is closed. The terms of the transaction, which valued CESP at about 9.1 billion reais ($1.67 billion), were disclosed this month. The company has also scheduled a shareholder meeting for Feb.

Brazil’s next president will have to temporarily increase public spending to fight poverty and unemployment, according to a close economic adviser to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who leads opinion polls ahead of the October vote, Bloomberg News reported.

Annual inflation in Brazil ended 2021 at a six-year high of 10.06%, government data showed on Tuesday, well above the upper limit of the central bank's year-end target range due to surging fuel and energy prices, Reuters reported. Despite slowing from the 12 months through November, when it reached 10.74%, the rise in the benchmark IPCA consumer price index was the most for a calendar year since 2015, said IBGE, while slightly exceeding the 9.97% median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

The São Paulo State Prosecutor's Office has requested that the Court block the assets of Sidnei Piva and declare the bankruptcy of Viação Itapemirim and ITA Transportes Aéreos, the Rio Times reported. The opinion, signed by the 5th Bankruptcy Prosecutor, Nilton Belli Filho, was submitted in the airline's judicial reorganization proceeding.

Brazil's central bank has put the brakes on tougher regulations for the burgeoning fintech industry, withdrawing a draft proposal that had been set to be voted on last month by the government's top financial policy-making body, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. On Nov. 18, the central bank proposed that the regulations be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the National Monetary Council (CMN) but the new rules - which look to level the playing field between fintechs and traditional banks - were never voted on, the sources say.

Brazil’s economy fell into recession as extreme weather conditions, high interest rates and inflation cut short its recovery from the pandemic, dealing a blow to President Jair Bolsonaro just as he prepares for his re-election campaign, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product fell 0.1% in the July-September period after posting a revised decline of 0.4% in the second quarter. From a year ago, the economy expanded 4%, the national statistics agency said on Thursday. The downturn shows mounting challenges for Latin America’s largest economy.

Brazilian airline Azul SA confirmed on Monday that it made an offer earlier this month to combine with Chile’s LATAM Airlines Group , which is in bankruptcy proceedings, but said it had since decided to focus on its own operations, Retuers reported. In an exchange filing published late on Sunday, Azul said that it would consider potential partnerships only in the future. The Brazilian airline said its non-binding proposal submitted on Nov. 11 had included around $5 billion in equity financing and was backed by some creditors of LATAM.