Brazil announces tax breaks
■ Brazil announced tax breaks for more than two dozen industries yesterday, the latest in a flurry of stimulus measures to bolster a slow recovery in Latin America’s largest economy. Finance minister Guido Mantega said the government will cut its economic growth estimate to two per cent this year from a previous three per cent, highlighting the challenges policymakers face to boost struggling local industries. Mantega announced payroll tax breaks for 25 industries including poultry and pork producers, paper pulp and freight transportation. The tax breaks will take effect in January of 2013 and cost the government 13bn reais (£4bn) in tax revenue. He added that measures also include mechanisms to lower the cost of acquiring capital goods like machinery.