Petrobras platforms inflate Brazil trade surplus

Brazil's federal government has been accused of artificially inflating the country's 2013 trade surplus by including the delivery of locally made oil platforms in outbound accounts.

According to national daily Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil exported seven production units this year worth US$7.4bn to the country's balance sheet.

"This is despite the platforms not having left Brazilian shores," the newspaper said.

The units are acquired by state-run oil company Petrobras (NYSE: PBR) and its subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Panamá, Mexico and Switzerland.

"Thereafter they are used in Brazil by local firms as if they were under a lease contract," the report added.