China Hands Brazil Multi-Billion Dollar Lifeline for Oil

China extended billions of dollars in loans and investment to Brazil as the South American nation reels from a slowing economy and a corruption scandal engulfing its largest oil producer.

China Development Bank and the Asian country’s export credit financing agency agreed to provide a total of $7 billion in financing for Brazil’s state-run energy company Petroleo Brasileiro SA. And Tianjin Airlines signed a contract to buy 22 jets from Sao Paulo-based Embraer SA.

Deals signed during the visit of Premier Li Keqiang coincide with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s efforts to kick-start an economy that is forecast to contract 1.2 percent this year, its worst performance in a quarter-century. China also said it will study investments to expand and modernize Brazil’s bottlenecked roads, ports and railways.

“Investment between China and Brazil can and will mean an improvement of our economic situation,” Rousseff told a group of entrepreneurs from both countries on Tuesday.

The real fell 1.1 percent to 3.0375 per U.S. dollar at 5:33 p.m. Sao Paulo time as lawmakers prepare to vote on fiscal measures in Congress this week. The benchmark Ibovespa stock index tumbled 1.3 percent.

China expressed interest in investing $53 billion in mining, infrastructure and manufacturing, Rousseff said Tuesday. Separately, China’s ICBC bank is establishing a $50 billion fund with Brazil’s Caixa Economica Federal for bilateral business opportunities.

First Stop

Brazil is the first stop on Li’s Latin America visit that also includes Colombia, Chile and Peru.

One of the biggest projects Chinese companies are eyeing in the region is the construction of a railway that would link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via Peru. Li said he will sign an agreement in Peru to study its feasibility.

China Three Gorges Corp. is interested in the construction of the Tapajos hydroelectric generator in the Amazon rain forest, which would be Brazil’s fourth-largest dam and cost at least 18 billion reais ($5.9 billion), according to a government official who asked not to be named.

The two countries also signed an agreement to allow the export of beef from Brazil to China, which had been banned since 2012. Brazilian Miner Vale SA signed four deals, including a credit agreement potentially worth as much as $4 billion.

Exports Fell

Exports to China, Brazil’s largest trade partner, fell 12 percent in 2014 as demand for commodities including iron ore and soy beans eased.

The China Development Bank last month extended a $3.5 billion loan to Petrobras, just as the embattled oil company was struggling to quantify operating losses due to corruption and mismanagement. More than half of the suppliers investigated for paying bribes also will close deals with Chinese banks and companies, according to Charles Tang, chairman of Brazil-China Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Chinese investors have an opening now that companies under investigation for corruption face restrictions in Brazil, Jose Virgilio Lopes Enei, a partner at law firm Machado Meyer Sendacz Opice, said in an event in Sao Paulo Tuesday.

“The Chinese are now competing for infrastructure projects in Brazil,” he said. “Chinese companies have resources to enter the market with larger volumes of investment.”