Shares in Brazilian state-run power company Eletrobras plunged on Wednesday after it reported third-quarter net income of 965 million reais ($175.4 million), down 66% year-on-year, hit mainly by provisions relating to ongoing litigation, Reuters reported. The lawsuits relate to a compulsory energy loan program, which required industrial energy customers to provide money to pay for Brazil's electricity sector. The government promised to repay the companies but this has been repeatedly postponed.

Surging construction costs are sending delinquency rates skyrocketing among Brazilian developers, persuading a growing number of lenders to dump their loans and creating a feast for distressed-asset funds, Bloomberg News reported. “I’m dealing with explosive demand from banks trying desperately to sell loans they made to construction firms,” said Eduardo Martins, a partner at MGC Holding, one of Latin America’s biggest distressed-asset managers.

Brazil’s lower house of congress passed a controversial proposal that bends the country’s fiscal rules to finance a new social program President Jair Bolsonaro is launching ahead of his 2022 re-election campaign, Bloomberg News reported. The so-called precatorios bill was approved late on Tuesday by 323-172 votes, a wider margin of support than it had received just a week ago. It now needs the backing of three-fifths of senators, also in two rounds of voting.

Secondary-market prices for legal claims against Brazil’s government tumbled to less than two-thirds their face value on President Jair Bolsonaro’s proposal to delay court-ordered payments on the debt, Bloomberg News reported. The securities had been trading at about 90% of face value as recently as the first half of this year, and are now closer to 60%, according to executives at banks and asset-management firms who trade the debt. The market for legal claims has been attracting investors seeking higher returns after the nation’s benchmark interest rate fell to as low as 2% last year.

Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes reported on Tuesday a net loss of 884.6 million reais ($160.54 million) for the third quarter as traffic remained below pre-pandemic levels, Reuters reported. That compared with a loss of 872 million reais a year earlier and the company said that while demand for air travel continued to pick up in Brazil, it has still only reached 53% of pre-pandemic levels.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday that dealing with high fuel prices in the country is his top priority right now, adding that he sees the privatization of state-run oil company Petrobras as an "ideal" move, Reuters reported. Bolsonaro told reporters during a visit to Anguillara Veneta, in Italy, that he was "unofficially" told that Petroleo Brasileiro SA - as the company is formally known - is expected to raise fuel prices at the refineries again in about 20 days. "Every bad thing that comes from Petrobras is my fault...

Brazil’s central bank is poised to deliver its biggest interest rate hike in nearly two decades as plans for greater public spending risk jeopardizing efforts to bring inflation down to target, Bloomberg News reported. Most economists agree on the need to step up an already aggressive monetary tightening campaign, but are divided over how dramatic the increase will be. The majority of the 49 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect the benchmark Selic to jump by 150 basis points to 7.75%.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro reiterated on Monday that he is considering the privatization of state-run oil company Petrobras , boosting its shares along with news of a fresh price hike in the domestic gasoline and diesel market, Reuters reported. "This is on our radar," the far-right president said during a radio interview.

Truckers blockading a major refinery in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais disbanded on Friday, allowing fuel supplies to normalize in the nation's second most populous state, Reuters reported. The protesters, principally truckers who deliver fuel, had been demanding a decrease in taxes on diesel. Since Thursday, they had blocked roads near the REGAP refinery near state capital Belo Horizonte, an action that spooked industry leaders and motorists and caused some gas stations in Minas Gerais to run low on fuel.