Economy

• Friday, August 31st 2012 - 01:40 UTC

  S&P places Paraguay with “stable outlook” and anticipates strong growth in 2013

  

  Standard & Poor’s credit risk rating agency improved the prospects of Paraguay, removing the country from credit-watch where it had been placed with negative implications last June 25 when the political situation that removed Fernando Lugo as president and subsequent suspension of Paraguay from Mercosur.

• Friday, August 31st 2012 - 01:20 UTC

  China pledges support for Euro-zone; orders 50 planes from Europe Airbus

  

  China has signed a deal to buy 50 planes worth 3.5bn dollars from Europe's Airbus. The agreement is part of a slew of trade deals signed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the start of a two-day visit to China.

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 04:36 UTC

  China and Germany, world’s exporting giants meet in Beijing to discuss Euro-crisis

  

  German leader Angela Merkel is due to hold top-level talks Thursday on her second visit to China this year, with Europe's debt crisis taking centre stage as it begins to drag on the two global powers.

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 04:32 UTC

  Brazil cuts benchmark rate for ninth time running to an all time low of 7.5%

  

  Brazil’s central bank cut the benchmark interest rate for the ninth straight time on Wednesday to an all-time low of 7.5%, as policymakers keep up efforts to bolster a slow-moving economy which is the world's sixth-largest.

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 04:25 UTC

  Venezuelan refinery ‘cooling down’; independent report points to serious lack of maintenance

  

  Venezuela is carrying out an “exhaustive” inspection of its biggest refinery before attempting to restart processing after extinguishing a four-day fire yesterday caused by an explosion that killed 48 people and left hundreds homeless.

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 04:20 UTC

  Brazilian government launches a new round of stimuli to prop consumption

  

  Brazil's government unveiled a host of new measures on Wednesday aimed at increasing investment and consumption as it expanded efforts to boost a sluggish recovery in the world's sixth-largest economy.

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 04:05 UTC

  Brazilians zest for beauty has turned the industry into the world’s third strongest

  

  Since an estimated 40 million people have joined the middle class in the past decade in Brazil, now the world’s sixth-largest economy, the beauty industry is booming and has become the third in importance globally.

• Thursday, August 30th 2012 - 03:57 UTC

  Canadian company exports first gold doré bar from Paraguayan mine

  

  Latin American Minerals Inc., Lampa, announced on Wednesday the delivery of the first gold doré bar produced at its Paso Yobai Gold Project pilot plant in Paraguay, to the Johnson Matthey Ltd. gold refinery in Brampton, Ontario.

• Wednesday, August 29th 2012 - 21:58 UTC

  US chicken business hit by grains’ costs will need to raise consumer prices

  

  Brazil's JBS SA, the world's biggest meatpacker, sees rising costs for feed grains hitting its US chicken business mainly in the fourth quarter and will need to raise prices accordingly.

• Wednesday, August 29th 2012 - 21:16 UTC

  EU threatens to impose tariffs on bio-diesel imported from Argentina

  

  The European Union threatened on Wednesday to impose tariffs on bio-diesel imported from Argentina and also Indonesia. The announcement was made today on the bloc’s Official Gazette.