Stories for August 2011

Tuesday, August 2nd 2011 - 07:14 UTC
Salaries in Argentina averaged a 27.6% increase in the last twelve months

Salaries in Argentina averaged an increase of 27.6% in the last twelve months to June, boosted mainly by agreements in the private sector, reported Monday the country’s National Statistics Institute, Indec.
Tuesday, August 2nd 2011 - 07:10 UTC
Timerman ‘appalled’ by ‘heinous’ killing of French tourists in north Argentina

Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman sent a letter to his French counterpart, Alain Juppé, in which he expressed being “appalled” over the killing of two French tourists in the Salta province.
Tuesday, August 2nd 2011 - 07:07 UTC
Brazil’s trade surplus more than doubles in July over a year ago

Brazil’s trade surplus more than doubled in July from a year ago fuelled by higher commodity prices in spite of the over-valued Super Real that is having an impact on manufactured goods exports and promotes the import of ‘cheap’ products.
Tuesday, August 2nd 2011 - 07:03 UTC
Brazil forecasted to become world’s third largest automobile manufacturer

Brazil’s car production capacity is expected to jump from the current 3.6 million units per year to 6.2 million by 2025 supported by massive investments from the industry estimated in 19 billion dollars by 2017, according to estimated from the Vanzolini Foundation in Sao Paulo.
Tuesday, August 2nd 2011 - 06:53 UTC
Brazil’s currency the most overvalued: anywhere from 52% to 149% vis-à-vis the US dollar

The Brazilian Real is the world's most expensive currency and is 149% overvalued against the dollar and the Colombian peso, the next most expensive currency is 108% above the US currency, according to British magazine The Economist, which has created a new version of the Big Mac index.
Monday, August 1st 2011 - 23:02 UTC
As promised Chavez went on national television with his Yul Brynner look

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez appeared before cameras on Monday sporting a shaved head, as the effects of chemotherapy begin to take a toll on his body. Chavez, though, looked energetic and even joked about his “new look” which he had anticipated last week as the “Yul Brynner” look.
Monday, August 1st 2011 - 22:51 UTC
Uruguay/Argentina summit will address canal dredging and power transmission

The dredging of the Uruguay River and access to the Martin Garcia canal as well as importing power from Paraguay are the two main issues of the agenda to be addressed by Presidents Jose Mujica and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner when they meet Tuesday in Buenos Aires.
Monday, August 1st 2011 - 22:47 UTC
Record Foreign Direct Investment in Uruguay in 2010 with 2.35 billion dollars

Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, in Uruguay was record in 2010 with 2.35 billion dollars (47.8% higher than in 2009) according to the latest report on global investment from the UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD. FDI represented 30.5% of total gross investment in Uruguay last year.
Monday, August 1st 2011 - 20:40 UTC
Polar front freezes Argentina and Uruguay with below zero temperatures

A polar front advancing over Argentina and Uruguay dragged the thermometers Monday morning in yet another freezing day in the south of the continent. Below zero temperatures were registered in several locations reaching minus 16,2 Celsius in Malargüe, Mendoza Province, according to Argentina’s Meteorological Service (SMN).
Monday, August 1st 2011 - 20:37 UTC
US manufacturing expanded at its lowest in two years in July

US manufacturing grew at its slowest pace in two years in July as new orders contracted, a troubling development for the faltering economy. The Institute for Supply Management said its index of national factory activity fell to 50.9, the lowest level since July 2009, from 55.3 in June.