
Food inflation in Latin America and the Caribbean reached 8.9% in June compared to the same month in 2011, which means the highest so far this year, according to a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO.

The Uruguayan government said on Monday there will be no public statements on the latest “situations” with Argentina, and Uruguay will keep to what was agreed at presidential level during the last (31 July) Mercosur extraordinary meeting in Brasilia.

Monsanto, the world's largest seed company won a one billion dollars victory over its arch rival in a lawsuit concerning patents in the agricultural seed market. The victory, concerning genetically modified seeds that allow crops to tolerate weed killer, should have little immediate impact in that lucrative marketplace.

Standard Chartered bank illegally schemed with Iran to launder as much as 250bn dollars for nearly a decade, a US regulator says. The New York State Department of Financial Services said that the bank hid 60.000 secret transactions for Iranian financial institutions that were subject to US economic sanctions.

China's central bank said on Sunday it will strengthen the fine-tuning of its monetary policy in the second half of this year, indicating as many analysts believe that more liquidity may be injected into the world's second largest economy.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that although broad measurements of the United States economy point to recovery, many people and businesses are facing tough times.

The strict and tightening US dollar purchase restrictions imposed in Argentina were clearly exposed in the banking system dollar deposits and loans during the last week of July when they dropped 3%, having accumulated 43% in the last few weeks, according to official data from the central bank.

Argentina and Brazil will experience an economic slowdown this year compared to 2011, while Paraguay, punished by drought and an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, will have the worst performance in Latin America, and Peru the best, according to the Argentine consultants Ecolatina

Argentine Industrial Union head José Ignacio de Mendiguren says he wholeheartedly agrees with President Cristina Fernández criticism to those who back a devaluation of the Peso, in an interview with Ambito.com.

The slowdown in Latin America’s once booming economies could take a heavy toll on profits for Spanish and Portuguese companies whose two-decade investment spree abroad has provided a lifeline during a deepening crisis at home.