Top officials from the Brazilian mining company Vale which suspended a 6 billion dollars potash development project in Argentina left the country for Sao Paulo last Friday following “on instructions from the security department” of the corporation, according to reports in the Brazilian press.
Chile’s GDP expanded 5.6% in 2012 as a boom in the mining and real estate industries demand boosted investment and sparked an increase in consumer spending. The economy grew 5.7% in the fourth quarter from 2011, the central bank said in a report on its website.
First forecasts for the 2013 wheat harvest point to production increasing to 690 million tons, 4.3% up on 2012. This would be the second largest crop on record, according to the latest issue of FAO quarterly “Crop Prospects and Food Situation” report. The production hike is expected mostly in Europe, driven by increased plantings in response to high prices and a recovery in yields in some countries, notably the Russian Federation.
Germany's finance minister has warned Cyprus that its crisis-stricken banks may never be able to reopen if it rejects the terms of a bailout. Wolfgang Schaeuble said major Cypriot banks were insolvent if there are no emergency funds.
Finance ministers from the Euro-zone have asked Cyprus to reduce the burden on small investors from a proposed levy on savings, linked to a bailout. Plans for a one-off tax of 6.75% on savings up to 100,000 Euros have outraged Cypriots.
The Committee of Experts of the Mechanism to Follow Up on Implementation of the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, MESICIC of the Organization of American States began its 21st Meeting with an agenda that includes the approval of reports on Peru, Costa Rica, Argentina, Trinidad and Tobago and Honduras, and a discussion on the responsibility of the private sector in the fight against corruption.
Argentina’s tax agency formally accused the local unit of British banking giant HSBC Holdings Plc. of conspiracy to hide bank accounts, thereby helping private companies evade tax payments and launder money.
World growth is likely to be suppressed below potential for several years to come, but Latin America and the Caribbean can escape this global outlook and boost growth significantly by adopting appropriate structural reforms, according to the Inter-American Development Bank’s annual macroeconomic report, released at the IDB annual meeting.
Argentina’s energy self-sufficiency can be expected in five to six years said Miguel Galuccio, CEO of YPF, the oil and gas corporation which was nationalized a year ago when the government of President Cristina Fernandez seized a 51% majority from Spain’s Repsol.
The Uruguayan economy expanded between 3% and 3.5% last year which is below the 5.7% of 2011, mostly because of a serious drought and a deteriorating world situation, advanced the country’s Central bank president Mario Bergara.