Brazil’s Central bank on Wednesday raised its benchmark overnight rate by a half-point for a second straight meeting to cool inflation that is approaching the upper limit of the government’s target range.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez spoke with embattled strongman Moammar Gaddafi and discussed creating a multinational commission to mediate the unrest in Libya, according to an internet message posted Wednesday by a Venezuelan government official.
In spite of President Cristina Fernandez instructions to scale down the controversy over the attendance of Literature Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa to Buenos for the opening of the Book Fair, the exchanges continued Wednesday.
Uruguay’s cabinet meeting spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that Argentina had “liberated” 75% of the import licences that remained delayed and which was one of the main points of the agenda in the recent summit between Uruguayan president Jose Mujica and Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan praised the management and achievements of the Uruguayan economy and said it was a pleasure to visit a country that does not have major problems resulting from the 2008 global financial crisis, which is a “recurrent issue” of his busy agenda.
The US skipper Brad Van Liew won his third consecutive leg in the Velux 5 Oceans race on Tuesday evening pulling into Punta del Este, Uruguay, eight days after rounding Cape Horn in his 60-foot Eco 60 Le Pingouin..
Pan American Energy has agreed to buy an oil refinery and more than 700 service stations in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay from Exxon Mobil Corp for which it will be paying an estimated 850 million US dollars.
The recent hike in oil prices will likely cause a “temporary and relatively modest increase in U.S. consumer price inflation,” but sustained increases could pose a more serious threat to the economy, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said earlier this week.