Economy

• Friday, December 29th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  South Africa's Standard Bank Argentine deal an attention call for competitors

  

  The planned purchase by Standard Bank – South Africa's largest private bank by assets — of most of US' Bank of America Corp.'s BankBoston Argentina assets, marks the first large investment by a foreign player in the sector since Argentina's 2001-2002 economic meltdown, and an attention call for competitors, banking sources told MercoPress.

• Thursday, December 28th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentine banks must return 2001/02 frozen deposits

  Five years later and in a long-awaited ruling, the Argentine Supreme Court ordered local banks to reimburse in full their customers savings that were frozen during the economic crisis of 2001/02, when Argentina also defaulted on its foreign debt.

• Thursday, December 28th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Euro becomes the world's favourite currency

  

  The US dollar bill's standing as the world's favourite form of cash is being pushed aside by the five-year-old euro with the value of Euro notes in circulation totaling 614 billion compared to the equivalent 588 billion Euros in greenbacks.

• Wednesday, December 27th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  New homes sales figures boost Wall Street to record high

  Sales of new homes in United States picked up in November following a big drop in October, while the backlog of unsold homes on the market became somewhat smaller, according to the latest report from the Commerce Department released Wednesday.

• Tuesday, December 26th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Argentina's international reserves set to reach 43 billion

  

  Argentina's Central Bank international reserves are set to reach 43 billion US dollars by the end of next year according to estimates from the private BBVA Banco Francés, released Tuesday in Buenos Aires.

• Tuesday, December 26th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Uruguay's recovery “has exceeded all expectations”

  

  The recovery of the Uruguayan economy from the 2002 crisis “has exceeded all expectations” but continued efforts are needed “to entrench macroeconomic stability, deepen structural reforms and reduce vulnerabilities”, reports the IMF in the last reviews of a stand by arrangement with Uruguay.

• Monday, December 25th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Italy's Gruppo Beltrame mulls steel plant in Argentina

  BUENOS AIRES — Italy's Gruppo Beltrame, Europe's fifth largest steelmaker, is considering plans to build its first plant outside Europe in Argentina at a cost of about 53 million dollars to manufacture plate for the shipbuilding sector, Río Santiago shipyard (ARS) said in a statement.

• Monday, December 25th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  China to pursue “prudent monetary policy” in 2007

  

  China will continue to pursue a prudent monetary policy in the coming months, aiming to keep the Yuan exchange rate stable at a reasonable and balanced level, said Monday China's Central Bank in Beijing.

• Monday, December 25th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  US dollar appreciates in Chile and helps exporters

  The US dollar closed in Chile at its highest in two months last week, 531 pesos, following the continuous drop in copper prices, the country's leading export.

• Sunday, December 24th 2006 - 20:00 UTC

  Moody's improves Uruguay's rating but vulnerabilities remain

  Moody's Investors Service upgraded the foreign- and local-currency bond ratings of Uruguay to B1 from B3 following a steady improvement in fiscal performance, a reduction in external and government debt ratios, and a significant reduction of refinancing risks.