The issuing of Global bonds in the European and United States market, announced this Wednesday, May 7, by Brazil's National Treasury, is going to total US$ 500 million. The bonds will mature in 2017 and should start being negotiated for 4.8% above face value.

Guido Mantega, Brazil's Finance minister, announced in Brazilian capital Brasília that the Brazilian government is working on creating a sovereign wealth fund of as much as US$ 20 billion. The fund would help finance overseas investment and acquisitions by Brazilian companies.

A national registry in Brazil is going to select products and services suppliers to the seven largest oil companies in the country. The Registry System of Suppliers to the Brazilian Segment of Petroleum and Natural Gas Exploration and Production (Cadfor) was established by the National Organization of the Petroleum Industry (Onip).

A postcard from Cairo arrives at the house of a youth in São Paulo. in southeastern Brazil. The correspondence is from his identical twin brother, from whom he has not had news for some years. The postcard is the starting push for the youth's trip to Egypt, after his brother, and thus begins the novel written by Brazilian author Joca Reiners Terron.

Marcopolo, the Brazilian bus and bus body maker, wants to invest 50 million reais (US$ 30.1 million) in its domestic production units by the month of October. The funds are to be spent on two of the company's plants in the state of Rio Grande do Sul (South Brazil) and in one in the state of Rio de Janeiro (Southeast).

Brazil, more than conquering new markets, wants to diversify its exports to countries that are already large importers of Brazilian agribusiness products. It is with that goal in mind that the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture is going to promote a business mission to Egypt, Algeria and Iran this coming June.

Brazil is not that "poor little thing" anymore and the country will not allow foreign "busybodies" to tell Brazilians what they should do. That's the message of Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in response to foreign critics who have been lambasting Brazil for its biofuel program.

In Brazil, May started with a deficit in the balance of trade (exports minus imports). According to data disclosed by the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, in the first week of May, with only one business day, exports reached US$ 720 million, whereas imports totaled US$ 894 million.

Less large loans for the federal government and more small and medium loans for state governments, with emphasis on investment in infrastructure and on the reduction of inequality. This is the strategy that should guide the US$ 7 billion loan that the World Bank (IBRD) should grant Brazil up to 2011.

The trade balance surplus (exports minus imports) in April was US$ 1.744 billion, according to figures supplied by the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. Exports reached US$ 14.059 billion and imports, US$ 12.315 billion.

Brazil's "investment grade" classification granted to the country by rating agency Standard & Poor's should provide further incentives to the entry of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Brazil, as with the promotion from BB+ to BBB-, announced on Wednesday, April 30, the country has started being considered low risk to investors.

The auto market in Brazil has posted growth of 29.33% in sales of light vehicles in the first quarter of this year over the same period in 2007. Figures disclosed by the National Federation of Motor Vehicle Distributors (Fenabrave) show that trade reached 1.54 million vehicles in the country between January and April, against 1.19 million in the same months of last year.

US company Kraft and Sadia S.A., a Brazilian food firm, have established a joint venture for the production, trade and distribution of cheese under the brand Philadelphia, produced by Kraft, together with cheeses and pâtés produced by Sadia.

The Brazilian stock exchange (Bovespa), this Friday, May 2, in its first trading session since Brazil was raised to investment grade by Standard and Poor's (the Bovespa was closed for the May Day holiday) opened strong and even broke a record before slowing down during the day.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Brazilian president, celebrated "Brazil's newly acquired investment grade condition, which is a magnet for foreign investment by saying: "Brazil is a serious country, with serious policies, which looks after its finances seriously, and that is why we now have achieved the international trust, which Brazil was after for a long time."