Politics

• Friday, October 23rd 2015 - 08:30 UTC

  Rousseff admits massive budget deficit this year; estimates are of 9% of GDP

  

  Brazil has given up on its goal of seeking a primary budget surplus this year and instead will record a massive shortfall as a deepening economic and political crisis drags on revenues, presidential chief of staff Jaques Wagner said on Thursday. Brazil's overall budget deficit has soared to 9% of GDP, according to estimates.

• Friday, October 23rd 2015 - 08:22 UTC

  Dutch company and Brazil negotiating a $250m Petrobras bribery settlement

  

  Brazil told Dutch SBM Offshore NV, the world's top oil production ship leaser, to agree soon to a $250 million bribery settlement if it wants to regain its biggest client in the world's largest oil-ship market, according to media reports from Brasilia and Sao Paulo.

• Friday, October 23rd 2015 - 08:01 UTC

  Falklands contract seasonal foreign workers to boost dwindling local force

  

  A group of road workers are expected to start arriving in the Falklands Islands in early December to boost the dwindling local force. Falklands' Director of Public Works Colin Summers said that efforts to obtain agency workers were progressing well with up to nine workers sourced to be split between the FIG Highways Section and the Quarry.

• Friday, October 23rd 2015 - 07:53 UTC

  Macri will continue as leader of PRO party whatever Sunday's election outcome

  

  Mauricio Macri, Argentina's presidential candidate of the Let’s Change (Cambiemos) opposition coalition said he will continue leading the PRO party whatever the outcome of Sunday’s elections is.

• Friday, October 23rd 2015 - 07:36 UTC

  “We will maintain our Malvinas claim, but relations with UK should be broadened”

  

  Argentina's presidential candidate Mauricio Macri’s top foreign policy adviser Fulvio Pompeo told British newspaper The Telegraph Argentina will take a less aggressive stance over the Malvinas Islands conflict if the Let’s Change candidate wins Sunday general elections.

• Friday, October 23rd 2015 - 07:26 UTC

  Malvinas Islands' claim: Tierra del Fuego is 'absolutely strategic”

  

  Tierra del Fuego is 'absolutely strategic“ for Argentina's foreign policy because of the Malvinas Islands claim question, integration with Chile and the current process of re-industrialization, according to the country's Deputy foreign minister Eduardo Zuain who this week visited Ushuaia to coordinate actions beginning ”next December” when the elected governor Rosana Bertone takes office.

• Friday, October 23rd 2015 - 07:02 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez is falling back, but with great power and plans to return in 2019, says Fraga

  

  President Cristina Fernandez is falling back ahead of Sunday's election, but with great power, and she has the intention of returning to office in the next presidential elections, 2019, said the political analyst and columnist Rosendo Fraga regarding the current political scenario in Argentina. On Sunday Argentines will be electing president, half the Lower House a third of Senate seats, governorships and for the first time Mercosur parliament representatives.

• Thursday, October 22nd 2015 - 07:42 UTC

  Latin America's 2013/15 exports, worst performance in eight decades says ECLAC

  

  The value of Latin America’s exports will continue to decline through 2015 by 14%, with Argentina faring slightly worse with a reduction of 17%, says the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) report, which also indicated that the value of imports to Argentina are set to fall by a smaller 10%.

• Thursday, October 22nd 2015 - 07:26 UTC

  Brazil's opposition files new impeachment petition against Rousseff

  

  Brazil's opposition filed a new impeachment petition against President Dilma Rousseff on Wednesday, accusing her of illegal accounting practices. The much-anticipated petition, whose authors include a founder of Rousseff's Workers' Party, was handed over to congressional lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha.

• Thursday, October 22nd 2015 - 07:09 UTC

  Brazil leaves Selic rate unchanged at 14.25%; inflation the target but with no timetable

  

  Brazil's central bank kept interest rates on hold on Wednesday, for a second straight month despite a jump in inflation expectations. The decision not to raise rates will give a breather to President Dilma Rousseff, who is fighting for her political survival amid the country's worst economic and political crisis in 25 years.