Uruguay's fiscal deficit will be double the government's targets for 2008 and 2009 increasing risks for the coming year (which happens to be an electoral year). Clearly expansive monetary and fiscal policies together with mounting pressure for higher salaries and an overheated economy will sustain strong inflationary pressures this year and in 2009.
Oil prices lost five US dollars ending Monday below 100 US dollars a barrel for the first time in six months, spurred by concerns about the global economy. With banking giant Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy protection, US light sweet crude closed Monday in New York at 95.71 and London Brent 92.38 US dollars a barrel.
Brazil is determined to join the world's exclusive club of nuclear research and is willing to contribute with a billion US dollars to participate in the ambitious International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ITER project in France.
South American leaders ratified their full support for the constitutional government of Bolivia and elected President Evo Morales following an emergency meeting Monday in Santiago de Chile.
Leading Asian markets plunged in the aftermath of the collapse of one of the US top investment banks, Lehman Brothers. Shares in Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan were down by 4 to 6%, having been shut on Monday for a bank holiday.
A young Chilean family who are among a number choosing to adopt the Falkland Islands as their home, received British citizenship at a ceremony conducted at Government House, Stanley on Monday evening.
The global financial crisis is not over and more banks could close, possibly leading to the disappearance of independent investment houses, IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn told reporters in Cairo.
The United States Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at 2% on Tuesday arguing slower economic growth but also warning about an inflation outlook highly uncertain.