The Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture and the National Monetary Council (CMN) allocated around 2.2 billion Brazilian reais (US$ 1.3 billion) to the Coffee Economy Defense Fund (Funcafé). The amount is destined for operations in financing, harvesting, storage and purchase of the grain in the year of 2008.

Brazil's state-owned Eletrobrás Group, which operates in the field of power generation and supply, ended the first three months of 2008 with net profit of 841.5 million reais (US$ 506.8 million), a result 261% greater than the 233.1 million reais (US$ 140.4 million) in net profit posted in the first quarter of last year. The result is the equivalent of 0.75 reais (US$ 0.45) in net profit per share of the Group.

Grendene, a shoe company from Brazil, has expanded the volume of its exports by 41.7% in the first quarter of this year. The company shipped 18.6 million pairs of shoes abroad between January and March this year against 13.2 million in the same period last year.

Banco do Brasil (Bank of Brazil) is going to officially inaugurate its representation office in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, next Sunday, May 18. The office will be located in Emirates Towers, one of the postcard views of the city.

The president of Brazil's Central Bank, Henrique de Campos Meirelles said that his bank is ready to cap pressure on prices with the purpose of keeping inflation under control even when this could impact on the strong economic growth of the economy.

A series of judicial decisions prevented Brazilians from marching for the legalization of marijuana in nine capitals of Brazil's states. The marches were scheduled to take place on May 4, 2008 in ten different cities, but state courts issued preliminary injunctions prohibiting the marches in nine of them.

Average production of oil and natural gas by Brazilian state-controlled oil company Petrobras in the country, in April, was 2.157 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, growth of 2% in comparison with March and of 5.1% compared with April last year. This was the first increase after three consecutive months of reduction.

Compared with the previous month, retail trade sales grew 1.8% in March, in Brazil, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). The sector posted a 2.3% rise in nominal revenues (absolute terms).

Revenues of micro and small businesses in the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo grew 2.4% in the first quarter of 2008 in comparison with the same period of 2007, representing growth of 1.5 billion reais (US$ 905 million) in total revenues, which stood at 62.3 billion reais (US$ 37.5 billion).

It took four years of research on hibiscus flowers, a plant of African and Asian origin well adapted to Brazil, before businessman Fernando Gama established Flor dos Hibiscus (Hibiscus Flower), a brand that produces and sells organic food like jelly, chutneys, spreads, chilli sauces and seasoning based on the plant that is rich in vitamins and minerals.

Banco do Brasil (Bank of Brazil) posted net profit of 2.3 billion reais (US$ 1.3 billion) in the first quarter of 2008. According to a report disclosed this Wednesday, May 14, by the institution, the result is 66.6% higher than recorded in the same period of 2007. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2007, there was an expansion of 92.9%.

Eyeing Arab clients Marriott Brazil chain is offering in its luxury hotels exclusive services to Muslims. The differentiated services are provided in the JW Marriott, in Rio de Janeiro, and at Renaissance, in São Paulo, said the account manager at the hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Rodrigo Canto.

Brazilian imports from the Arab countries posted significant growth in the first four months of this year. They rose from US$ 1.7 billion between January and April last year to US$ 2.9 billion in the same period this year, expansion of 68.89%.

From 2001 through 2003 Brazilians Hélio ('Spiderman') Castroneves and Gil de Ferran constituted the entire complement of drivers for legendary Penske racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, or 'Brickyard.' They won all three of those Indy 500 titles, contributing significantly to Penske's daunting record of 14 wins at Indy.

Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, compared this Wednesday, May 14, the decision of his Environment minister to resign to a child telling his parents that he or she is leaving home. Lula said that he received the news with mixed feelings of sadness and happiness.