Economy

• Monday, July 25th 2011 - 12:25 UTC

  Argentina’s trade surplus shrinking under a strong influx of imports

  

  Argentina's trade surplus fell 22% on the year in June. Trade surplus last month 1.02 billion dollars, down from a revised 1.31 billion in June 2010, according to the national statistics agency, Indec.

• Monday, July 25th 2011 - 07:08 UTC

  EU/Mercosur agreement: “too much fear from both sides”

  

  A trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union would significantly expand European investment given the increase in bilateral trade, but ‘there’s too much fear from both sides’, according to Adrian van den Hover head of international relations for Business Europe.

• Monday, July 25th 2011 - 06:47 UTC

  US debt ceiling: Republicans insist in torpedoing Obama 2012 re-election bid

  

  US President Barack Obama reiterated on Sunday his opposition to any short-term plan to raise the US debt ceiling, while Republicans insisted on a two-step solution, a White House official said.

• Monday, July 25th 2011 - 05:59 UTC

  Argentine farmers accuse government of “obsession with power” and exploiting misery

  

  The head of the Argentine Rural Society, Hugo Biolcati carried out a harsh speech against the administration of President Cristina Fernandez saying it was time “to stop punishing farmlands and Argentina”.

• Saturday, July 23rd 2011 - 06:23 UTC

  Obama and congressional leaders Saturday meeting in the White House

  

  President Barrack Obama said he would be meeting with congressional leaders, at the White House at 1100 (1500 GMT) on Saturday. On Friday Republican House Speaker John Boehner walked away from crunch debt ceiling talks with the President.

• Saturday, July 23rd 2011 - 04:09 UTC

  Lula da Silva: forget biblical nonsense, the poor are entitled to heaven now and here

  

  Former president Lula da Silva described as ‘nonsense’ the biblical statement that the poor will be “blessed with treasure in heaven” and strongly supported the policies of his government (2003/2010) which helped millions in Brazil lift from poverty.

• Saturday, July 23rd 2011 - 01:53 UTC

  Argentine president called IMF chief and had a half hour conversation

  

  The IMF confirmed that Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner phoned incoming Managing Director Christine Lagarde last week, a few hours before the Fund reiterated its objections to Argentina’s official statistical data.

• Friday, July 22nd 2011 - 15:53 UTC

  Confirmed: Copper for another century at Chile’s main Escondida mine

  

  The giant miner BHP Billiton announced this week a 129% increase in the mineral resource at and around Chile’s Escondida, the world's biggest copper mine.

• Friday, July 22nd 2011 - 06:20 UTC

  Brazil: record low unemployment and more job-creation in second half anticipated

  

  Brazil’s unemployment rate fell to its lowest since January in spite of efforts by policy makers to cool growth and inflation in Latin America’s biggest economy. The jobless rate fell to 6.2% in June, from 6.4% in May and 7% a year earlier, the national statistics agency said in a report distributed in Rio de Janeiro.

• Friday, July 22nd 2011 - 06:09 UTC

  Slower truck sales in Brazil hit Sweden’s Scania second quarter profit

  

  Swedish truck-maker Scania controlled by Germany’s Volkswagen, reported second-quarter profit that missed analysts’ estimates as orders in Brazil slowed. Net income in the quarter rose to 2.43 billion kronor (380 million USD) from 2.37 billion kronor a year earlier, the company said in a statement.