Brazil

• Thursday, January 12th 2012 - 12:32 UTC

  Chile ratifies its position and denies existence of a Malvinas blockade

  

  Chile ratified this week that vessels flying the Malvinas flag will continue to be barred from Chilean ports and that the country’s position relative to the issue has not changed and denies the existence of a blockade. A brief statement from the Chilean Foreign Affairs ministry indirectly refers to the latest statement by UK Foreign Secretary William Hague.

• Thursday, January 12th 2012 - 12:31 UTC

  Uruguay’s position on barring Malvinas flagged vessels “has not changed an iota”

  

  In an official communiqué Uruguay ratified full support for Argentina’s Malvinas sovereignty claim and underlined that the barring of Malvinas’ flagged vessel from Uruguayan ports stands and “has not changed an iota”.

• Wednesday, January 11th 2012 - 06:38 UTC

  Brazil targets record harvest of 160.3 million tons of grains and oilseeds in 2012

  

  The Brazilian government lowered 0.1% its estimate for the 2012 harvest that should reach 160.3 million tons, considered a record volume. Overall this year’s harvest should be 0.3% above the 159.9 million tons of 2011, according to data from the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Office, IBGE.

• Wednesday, January 11th 2012 - 06:27 UTC

  Brazil runs the risk of becoming highly dependent on natural-resources exports

  

  A leading Brazilian economist Edmar Bacha, one of the architects behind the 1994 Plan Real to stabilize Latin America’s largest economy said the country was at risk of becoming entirely dependent on natural resources exports and urged greater savings to invest in diversification.

• Wednesday, January 11th 2012 - 06:22 UTC

  Argentina says no change in Mercosur decision to bar Falklands’ flagged vessels

  

  Argentina in two brief statements said on Tuesday that there has been no change in Mercosur members’ position to bar Falklands’ flagged vessels from the region’s ports and that the United Kingdom admits that such policy has become effective.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 15:42 UTC

  UK tells Mercosur it will resist any attempts to coerce the Falklands

  

  The British government said it would resist any attempts to coerce the Falkland Islands through economic or other pressures, and revealed it is holding ‘productive discussions’ with Uruguay, Chile and Brazil to ensure trade and commercial links between the Islands and South America are not compromised by political declarations.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:54 UTC

  FMD in Paraguay: 168 livestock sacrificed and major investigation into previous outbreak

  

  Paraguay veterinary services concluded Monday midday the termination of 168 livestock mostly belonging to a farm where an outbreak of foot and mouth disease was confirmed 2 January in the county of San Pedro to the centre north of the country.

• Tuesday, January 10th 2012 - 05:48 UTC

  Brazil to build five new dams in the Amazon but with “oil-rigs” technology

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff signed the decree for the construction of five new hydroelectric dams in the Amazon basin and readies for a renewed attack from domestic and international environmentalists against the project.

• Sunday, January 8th 2012 - 05:36 UTC

  Uruguay and Argentina among the ten countries worldwide with highest inflation

  

  Inflation in Uruguay was not only far above target domestically but also figures among the ten highest in the world, and in Latam only behind Argentina and Venezuela

• Sunday, January 8th 2012 - 05:29 UTC

  Brazil celebrates having achieved 2011inflation target, but it’s highest since 2004

  

  Brazil's government just met its inflation target for 2011, which was a surprise victory forPresident Dilma Rousseff and for a central bank that struggled for most of the year with rising food and commodities prices. However it is the highest inflation since 2004.