Brazil’s central bank chief is facing the tough reality that weaning the country’s largest businesses off of multi-billion dollar subsidies is easier said than done. Over the past fortnight, Ilan Goldfajn has lobbied dozens of lawmakers over legislation that would essentially eliminate below-market rates on long-term loans from state bank BNDES before the proposal expires on Sept. 7. In a sign of the importance the central bank places in the bill, no fewer than four directors attended its reading in a congressional committee hearing on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported.

Brazilian President Michel Temer has burned through political capital fighting corruption charges and is struggling to push forward his economic agenda meant to rein in a gaping budget deficit, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Even allies in Congress now doubt he can achieve anything but watered-down measures, likely delaying any fix to Brazil's fiscal crisis until the economy recovers from deep recession. With continued deficits, Brazil risks further downgrades in its credit rating.

Oi SA posted a wider-than-expected second-quarter loss as the Brazilian phone carrier was forced to close currency-hedging positions because of its protracted bankruptcy protection case, Reuters reported. Oi lost a net 3.303 billion reais ($1 billion) last quarter, about 16 times the size of the first quarter's 200 million-real shortfall, according to a securities filing on Wednesday. The loss was much more than an average consensus estimate of 332.8 million reais compiled by Thomson Reuters.

PDG Realty SA, the largest Brazilian homebuilder to have filed for bankruptcy protection, reached a non-binding agreement with bank creditors as part of restructuring talks, the company said in a filing late on Friday. PDG filed for bankruptcy protection in February after citing a severe cash crunch and onerous debt of 7.3 billion reais ($2.33 billion), Reuters reported. It presented an in-court reorganization plan on June 7.

Creditors of Grupo Bom Jesus, a Brazilian grain producer that filed for bankruptcy protection in May, have agreed to proposed terms of a 2.6 billion reais ($835 million) debt restructuring, a source with knowledge of the matter said. All classes of creditors voted in favor of the plan in a court in the midwestern town of Rondonópolis, the source added. The approved reorganization plan allows the grain producer to sell assets such as farms to raise cash, Reuters reported.

Chinese commodities trader COFCO has asked to participate in an auction in Brazil where a sugar mill owned by India's Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd will be sold as part of an in-court debt restructuring, according to court documents seen by Reuters on Tuesday. COFCO already owns four sugar and ethanol plants in Brazil capable of processing a combined 15 million tonnes of cane per year. The company looked at other potential targets last year, but said prices were too high, Reuters reported.

TPI Triunfo Participações & Investimentos SA and a pool of about 20 banks have agreed on terms to restructure 2.113 billion real ($672.6 million) of debt, giving the Brazilian infrastructure firm a lifeline to finalise projects and downsize gradually, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

The board of Oi SA on Wednesday approved a plan to raise 8 billion reais ($2.5 billion) in fresh capital from shareholders and investors as a way to accelerate the Brazilian wireless carrier's emergence from bankruptcy, Reuters reported. In a statement, Oi said the terms of the capital raise will be discussed with creditors and proceeds will be used to raise the carrier's investments in broadband and wireless coverage.

For more than a year, Oi SA has struggled to reach a deal with various factions jockeying for a leg up in its $19 billion bankruptcy case, Bloomberg News reported. Almost entirely absent from that process? The company’s single biggest creditor. Brazil’s government claims that Oi owes telecom regulator Anatel as much as 20 billion reais ($6.1 billion), but current law forbids the agency from accepting any sort of haircut or extending the payment schedule.

A year into its bankruptcy saga, Oi SA is reinforcing to the rest of the world that Brazil is a hazardous place even for the most experienced of investors. In the two decades since the telecom giant was privatized, it’s been strong-armed into disastrous acquisitions and turned into a dumping ground for the debt of its controlling shareholders, Bloomberg News reported. It was used by Brazil’s government to push political policies and was saddled with regulations that drained it of cash.