Economy

• Friday, June 7th 2013 - 05:43 UTC

  S&P cuts Brazil credit rating outlook to negative because of sluggish growth

  

  Brazil’s credit rating outlook was cut to negative by Standard & Poor’s saying sluggish economic growth and an expansionary fiscal policy could lead to higher government debt levels. Reacting to the announcement a spokesperson from the Finance ministry said “there is no change in economic policy and the environment is conducive to investment”.

• Friday, June 7th 2013 - 05:40 UTC

  Uruguay tightens terms for the inflow of short-term capital inflows

  

  Uruguay announced on Thursday new measures to discourage short term speculative capital inflows that have appreciated the Peso, eroded the country’s international competitiveness, made imports cheaper than domestic production and threaten an already stubborn inflation.

• Thursday, June 6th 2013 - 23:26 UTC

  Bank of England leaves rate unchanged as it prepares to receive Mark Carney

  

  The Bank of England on Thursday voted to keep its main interest rate at 0.5% following a monetary policy meeting, the last for departing Governor Mervyn King. The BoE also decided against creating more cash under its Quantitative Easing (QE) program that is aimed at boosting growth amid Britain's fragile economic recovery.

• Thursday, June 6th 2013 - 23:21 UTC

  IMF admits mistakes in Greece, fearing the spill of problems to the rest of Europe

  

  The International Monetary Fund admitted it had to lower its normal standards for debt sustainability to bail out Greece, and its projections for the Greek economy may have been overly optimistic.

• Thursday, June 6th 2013 - 23:12 UTC

  Dragui forecasts Euro-area return to growth by end of 2013

  

  European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Thursday that the Euro-area economy will return to growth by the end of the year, handing policy makers a reason to hold back fresh stimulus. Draghi spoke after the ECB Governing Council in Frankfurt left its main refinancing rate at 0.5% after reducing it by a quarter points last month.

• Thursday, June 6th 2013 - 22:25 UTC

  Brazilian industry demands Mercosur looks for new markets or will end ‘isolated’

  

  The powerful Brazilian National Confederation of Industry, CNI said that the country and its Mercosur partners will end ‘isolated’ if they don’t actively look for alternative trade accords, as is being done by other Latam countries.

• Thursday, June 6th 2013 - 22:14 UTC

  Falklands’ oil company completes second 3D survey over its Southern licenses

  

  Falkland Oil and Gas (FOGL) reported Thursday the completion of a 3D survey over its Southern Area licenses offshore the Falkland Islands. FOGL said the survey aimed to target a number of prospects and leads immediately to the west and northwest of the Darwin condensate discovery.

• Thursday, June 6th 2013 - 06:06 UTC

  Brazil signs bill expanding private sector participation in the clogged ports

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed into law on Wednesday new regulations to make its ports more efficient and attract up to 12 billion dollars in investments as the country finally begins to tackle logistics bottlenecks hampering vast farm exports.

• Wednesday, June 5th 2013 - 22:16 UTC

  Good news for Chevron (and YPF): Argentine court revokes 19bn dollar embargo

  

  Argentina's Supreme Court revoked a 19 billion dollar embargo on the assets and future income of Chevron Corp.'s Argentina subsidiary, giving the U.S. oil giant a victory in a decades-old battle with indigenous groups in Ecuador.

• Wednesday, June 5th 2013 - 22:06 UTC

  Brazil boosts agriculture budget by 18% to speed expansion of storage capacity

  

  The Brazilian government announced that it is increasing the farm budget, including funds for subsidized loans by 18% to 136 billion Reais (approx 68 billion-dollars) mainly for improving the country’s insufficient storage capacity and new silos.