The conflict in the Middle East may force the hand of Brazil’s central bank, and not in a good way. The central bank has heavily foreshadowed a rate cut on March 18. However, the escalating war in the Middle East may throw cold water on those plans, and Brazil’s market rally, the Wall Street Journal reported. “If oil prices start climbing high or [if] they stay high, then, yes, the central bank might hold,” Juan Egaña, a strategist at BCA Research, said. "Brazilian markets have rallied so much in expectation that monetary easing is coming,” said Egaña.

Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer Raizen said on Wednesday that it had reached an out-of-court agreement with creditors and bondholders to restructure approximately 65.1 billion reais ($12.61 billion) in debt obligations, Reuters reported. The joint venture between oil ​major Shell and Brazilian conglomerate Cosan had been in months-long talks seeking ways to strengthen ​its capital structure and tackle its significant debt burden. Raizen said in a securities filing ⁠that creditors holding 47% of its unsecured debt had already endorsed the plan.

Brazil has seen an increase in the volume of judicial restructurings, including those involving large business groups, BNAmericas.com reported. The number of companies in Brazil under bankruptcy protection reached 5.680 at the end of 2025, compared with a total of 4.233 companies, according to data from RGF Associados, a company specialized in judicial recovery. Currently, the interest rate in Brazil is at 15%, the highest level since mid-2006, amid the Central Bank’s attempt to keep inflation within the target set by the monetary authority.

Evidence that two senior regulators at Brazil's central bank secretly advised embattled banker Daniel Vorcaro has sent shockwaves through the capital Brasilia, threatening to drag the institution deeper into a snowballing scandal, Reuters reported. The revelations add to a widening blast radius surrounding Vorcaro, owner of the liquidated Banco Master, whose downfall has exposed ​a network of influence and conflicts of interest shaking trust in some of Brazil's most powerful institutions.

Brazil's government partially rolled back a controversial increase in import tariffs approved earlier this year, the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services said on Friday. The move, previously reported by Reuters, citing sources, restores a zero tariff on items that had been taxed after losing exemptions granted under the government's policy to attract data centers to the country. In February, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration raised import duties on more than 1,200 capital and technology goods.

Oil major Shell, the healthier joint-venture partner in Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer Raizen, ‌is ready to pour more resources into a recapitalization of the distressed company, three ‌people familiar with the matter told Reuters. Raizen, a top global sugar maker, is in tough financial straits after posting ​a third-quarter net loss of 15.6 billion reais ($3 billion) in mid-February, when it warned of "significant uncertainty" about its ability to keep operating.

The financial restructuring process of Azul under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code reached its conclusion on February 20. Following the full repayment of the DIP (Debtor-in-Possession) financing and the settlement of its share offering, the company emerges with a reduction in debt and lease obligations of approximately $2.5 billion, AviaciOnline.com reported. The airline successfully repaired its balance sheet through strategic agreements with key creditors, including the lessor AerCap and U.S. carriers United Airlines and American Airlines.

Integratel Peru improved its operating result as it moves forward with a financial restructuring plan within the framework of its insolvency proceedings before Indecopi, BNAmericas.com reported. Since the acquisition of Telefónica's operation in April, the company set out to transform its operation to optimize management models and strengthen the foundations of the business, achieving operating efficiencies of 229 million soles (US$67.6 million (mn)). The strategy involves prioritizing higher-profitability customer clusters to improve operating results.

Brazil's federal audit court TCU has completed a technical review of the central bank's handling of Banco Master's liquidation and found no reservations or recommendations regarding the regulator's conduct, Reuters reported. The central bank did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The audit court said in a statement that the case is confidential and that no further information is available.

The resignation of Argentina’s national-statistics chief over a new inflation index is testing investor confidence in President Javier Milei’s economic overhaul, reviving memories of efforts by his Peronist predecessors to doctor consumer-price data, the Wall Street Journal reported. Marco Lavagna, head of Argentina’s Indec statistics agency, stepped down Monday after the government delayed plans to update the country’s inflation index, which economists said understates current price increases.