The government of Brazil is using new tax measures to contain the unprecedented rise of the national currency. On July 27th the national currency of Brazil (the Real, BRL), backed down from its 12 year high against the US Dollar, after the government announced a new tax designed to curb the currency’s excessive appreciation. Immediately after the announcement the Brazilian Real fell by approximately 2 percent. The newly instated measure will place a 1 percent tax short positions on the country’s futures market valued ... Read More

To address the problem of tax revenues floating overseas, the government of Brazil is once again increasing the tax rate on corporate loans and banks’ debt-selling abroad. In an effort to lower the exchange rate of the national currency, on March 29th the President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff announced a decree instating a tax rate increase on international borrowing by Brazilian banks and companies. Active immediately, the decree mandated that overseas loans issued by corporate bodies in Brazil be subjected to a 6 ... Read More

Brazil showed signs of continued economic recovery in July, announcing an increase in its tax collections levels compared to both the previous month and the same month of 2009. In its latest federal tax report, released August 17th, the Brazilian Ministry of Finance announced that total tax collections in July reached BRL 67.97 billion (approx. USD 38.75 billion). The figure represents a 10.8 percent increase over July 2009, and 10.5 percent rise in comparison to June 2010. The total tax revenues for the ... Read More

The Federative Republic of Brazil has been praised for the steps it has taken to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, through a series of legal changes and legal infrastructure improvements. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-government body created to develop international anti-money laundering policies, has evaluated and approved the Brazilian Government’s implementation of the National Strategy Against Corruption and Money Laundering (ENCCLA). According to FATF’s report, released August 9th, the Government has developed coherent and sound strategy for anti-money laundering ... Read More

The Central Bank of Brazil has reported that the national budget surplus rose to BRL16.19 billion (approx. USD 8.8 billion) in January, a marked improvement over the previous month, and over the same period in 2009. Signaling an economic recovery for the country, the Brazilian Government has announced that it has experienced the second highest budget surplus ever recorded in the month of January for the country. The surplus, which included revenues from the federal government, local governments and state enterprises, had increased ... Read More