The outlook for Southern Cone Banks is mixed in 2013, with a stable outlook for Chile and Uruguay, while Argentina faces a negative outlook and the potential for downgrades, according to a new Fitch Ratings report.
The cost of crimes against property and people in Uruguay in 2010 totaled at least 1.2 billion dollars, which was equivalent to 3.1% of the country’s GDP. This was the conclusion of a new study carried out at the country’s Economic Research Center by researchers Aboal Diego, Jorge Campanella, and Bibiana Lanzilotta, with the collaboration of Magdalena Dominguez and Maren Vairo.
Brazil on Thursday exempted foreign investors from paying a financial transaction tax on purchases of real estate investment trusts traded on the country's stock exchange. Since early last year the government of President Dilma Rousseff has aimed to develop funding alternatives for local builders, many of which are overly dependent on loans from state development bank BNDES, the main source of long-term corporate financing in Brazil.
Brazil failed to reach its primary budget surplus goal last year posting a primary surplus of 104.951 billion Reais (53 billion dollars), the equivalent of 2.38% of GDP, according to central bank data released this week, which was below the annual target of 139.8 billion Reais, approx 3.1% of GDP.
Visiting United States Congressman Thomas E Petri expressed approval of the decision of Falkland Islanders to hold a referendum on the political status and future of the Falklands.