Economy

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 20:51 UTC

  Poor ratings for Chile in health care and pensions' system, according to OECD

  

  Two biannual reports revealed Chile as one of the countries with the worst pension statistics and the highest citizen out-of-pocket expenditure on health among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 11:45 UTC

  Brazil determined to fight inflation raised its benchmark interest rate to 10%

  

  As was anticipated Brazil raised its benchmark interest rate to 10% from 9.5% on Wednesday lifting borrowing costs back to double-digit territory to battle high inflation in Latin America's largest economy.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 11:40 UTC

  Brazil auctions concession of highway that transports 45 million tons of grains annually

  

  Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht on Wednesday was awarded a 30-year concession to operate and maintain a stretch of the BR-163 federal highway, a major road in the western state of Mato Grosso, also known as 'soy road' because of the millions of tons of grains and oilseeds that are transported annually.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 11:28 UTC

  North west England trade mission scheduled to visit Chile, Argentina and Brazil

  

  Attracted by Chile’s positive economic climate a trade mission for North West England will be arriving in Santiago on 2nd-3rd December. The delegation from one of the most dynamic areas of the UK economy has representatives from Covering Cheshire, Lancashire, Cumbria and the cities of Manchester and Liverpool.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 11:02 UTC

  Repsol board backs compensation deal offered by Argentina for seized YPF

  

  Spanish oil group Repsol's board Wednesday backed a draft multi-billion-dollar compensation deal over Argentina's 2012 seizure of the company's YPF subsidiary. The deal seeks to repair the financial hit taken by Repsol when Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez in April 2012 ordered the seizure of Repsol's 51-percent stake in YPF.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 10:31 UTC

  Maduro tells Central bank he expects 5% deflation in November because of the mandatory price cuts

  

  President Nicolás Maduro has sent clear messages to the Venezuelan central bank arguing that following the 'economic war' he declared on big business and hoarding with the mandatory cuts in prices, November should register “5% deflation and not inflation”.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 10:26 UTC

  Rousseff reluctant to increase fuel prices fearing inflation and social unrest

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff is reluctant to allow the country's oil corporation Petrobras to increase the price of fuels this year, which would have an immediate impact on gasoline, transport and inflation, according to Folha de Sao Paulo.

• Thursday, November 28th 2013 - 10:21 UTC

  Gol airlines admits it's on the brink because of Brazil's tepid economic performance

  

  Brazilian airline Gol Linhas-Aereas could continue cutting its domestic network in 2014 if necessary, Chief Executive Paulo Kakinoff said this week, highlighting uncertainty about economic growth.

• Wednesday, November 27th 2013 - 06:49 UTC

  Petrobras shares plummet on fears that fuel price increases will be further delayed

  

  Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras fell to its lowest level in more than a year on Tuesday, pushing the country's stock market to a near three-month low on concerns the government may delay a new pricing policy that could stem losses in the firm's refining division.

• Wednesday, November 27th 2013 - 06:43 UTC

  Sound fiscal policy is new target of Brazilian economy: subsidies to be lessened

  

  Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega said on Tuesday the government will remove some subsidies and delay tax breaks to keep the country's fiscal policy sound. Likewise the state development bank, BNDES, will stop funding lines for regional government next year.