Economy

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 16:07 UTC

  Spain’s richest region closer to default without central government aid

  

  Spain's wealthiest autonomous region, Catalonia, needs financing help from the central government because it is running out of options for refinancing debt this year, Catalan President Artur Mas admitted on Friday.

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 07:01 UTC

  Three former presidents admit Mercosur has failed and has Uruguay ‘trapped’

  

  Three former Uruguayan presidents recommended the current administration that without abandoning Mercosur, it should look at major trade blocks associations but at the same time a strong self criticism is needed because maybe the problem is not in Mercosur but in Uruguay.

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 06:56 UTC

  Argentina extends dollar purchase control to residents travelling abroad

  

  Argentina announced on Thursday the use of a new computer tool to gather information from buyers of holiday packages from travel agencies, in another attempt to control savers thirst for greenbacks after the government's crackdown on access to dollars.

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 06:51 UTC

  Argentina revokes commuter railway concession involved in crash that killed 51m and injured 700

  

  Argentina's government on Thursday revoked the commuter railway concession for a company whose train crashed in February, killing 51 people and injuring 703.

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 02:51 UTC

  Alcohol consumption in Latin America is considerably less than in Europe and US

  

  Alcohol consumption in Latin America is low compared to Europe and the US and averages 5.5 litres of pure alcohol per year per capita, although with marked differences between countries and gender. In Europe consumption is estimated at 13 litres of pure alcohol while in the US the average in 9.8 litres.

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 01:49 UTC

  OECD/World Bank recommends more inclusive growth economic policy

  

  Economic policy should be better designed to bring about more inclusive growth, ensuring that the benefits of increased prosperity are shared more evenly across society, according to a new report from the OECD and the World Bank.

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 01:21 UTC

  Argentina attacks WTO and US on trade issues at OECD ministerial round

  

  In an offensive to counter recent attacks on Argentina’s restrictive trade policies, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman expressed at the World Trade Organization, WTO, his government’s concern with the current course of global negotiations which face the serious risk of abandoning the development goals agreed when the launching of the current Doha Round of negotiations back in 2001.

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 01:16 UTC

  UK deeper in recession; IMF recommends more stimuli measures

  

  Britain fell deeper into recession than initially thought in the first quarter of 2012 due to a slump in construction output, raising the likelihood that the Bank will opt to inject more stimuli to protect the economy from the Euro zone debt crisis.

• Thursday, May 24th 2012 - 16:44 UTC

  Brazil’s current account deficit compensated by heavy FDI during April

  

  Brazil's monthly current account deficit rose sharply in April as the country's trade surplus faded and profit remittances and foreign travel costs increased, the Brazilian Central Bank said Thursday.

• Thursday, May 24th 2012 - 16:41 UTC

  Outbreak of tick fever kills 22 cattle in Australia; origin of the parasite unknown

  

  Twenty-two cattle have been killed by tick fever in the New South Wales, Australia. Tick fever is caused by a parasite in red blood cells and the only thing that can spread tick fever is cattle ticks, reports Meat trade news daily.