Brazil investors welcome reduced energy-cuts

Investors have welcomed an announcement by the Brazilian Government that it is to scale back energy-rationing for certain industries.

They say the move could reduce the impact the cuts were feared to be having on the Brazilian economy.

The government announced on Wednesday that energy-saving targets for big exporters like the state oil company, Petrobras and the aircraft manufacturer, Embraer, would be reduced from 20% to 15%.

Other sectors - including cement companies - also saw their targets revised.

The announcement came after better-than-expected results for the first 10 days of July.

The government said the situation was now under control but it also unveiled emergency back-up plans for Californian-style blackouts in case things took a turn for the worse.

Brazil introduced the rationing programme last month in an attempt to tackle an acute energy crisis, resulting from a prolonged drought.

Reservoirs across much of the country are extremely low and most of Brazil's electricity plants are hydro-powered.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service