Brazil will issue a $1 billion real-denominated overseas bond maturing in 2022, Brazil’s Treasury announced on Wednesday. The goal is to help meet Brazil's financing needs for 2007 to 2008. Brazil's net currency needs will be $8.9 billion in 2007 and $ 7.3 billion in 2008, after loans from the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank worth $3 billion in 2007 and $2.2 billion in 2008. This is Brazil's second international sovereign issue in real. The first was in September 2005, for $1.5 billion.
The Czech Republic’s jobless rate rose slightly to 8% in August from 7.9% a month earlier due to seasonal influences, economists said. Unemployment grew in August because of a drop in the number of some seasonal jobs and the arrival of new school-leavers on the job market. Disregarding seasonal influences, unemployment fell by nearly 1 percentage point year-on-year thanks to economic growth, which is very good news, said Miroslav Plojhar from Citibank."The bad news is that there have been no changes to structural and long-term unemployment," Plojhar said.
Bank Indonesia announced it has cut its benchmark interest rate to 11.25%, from 11.75%. This is the fourth time Bank Indonesia has reduced the benchmark interest rate this year. Bank Indonesia's spokesman Budi Mulyo said that the central bank feels that there is room for further rate cuts if economic conditions continue to improve.
India's index of six core infrastructure industries increased 9% during July, on the previous year. The growth rate during the corresponding period last year was 2.3%. The six core industries have a combined weight of 26.7% in the Index of Industrial Production. Crude petroleum production was up 4.1% in July; petroleum refinery production, 12.6%; coal production, 10.6%; and cement production, 13.3%.