Economy

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 07:26 UTC

  Brazil extends 6% tax on foreign loans and bonds to help weaken the Real

  

  Brazil extended on Monday a 6% tax on foreign loans and bonds issued abroad by local companies to include lending with duration of as long as five years, the third measure taken this month to weaken the Real. Since March 1, the currency has weakened 5.6%.

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 07:21 UTC

  “Argentina completely ignores the Mercosur treaty and spirit” says Uruguay

  

  Uruguayan Vice-president Danilo Astori strongly criticized the current situation in Mercosur blasting protectionist measures of both Argentina and Brazil, which together with Paraguay are full members of the block

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 07:07 UTC

  India confirms ban on cotton exports; China furious makes official complaint

  

  India will keep a controversial ban on its cotton exports for now after ministers failed to agree its fate at the weekend, even after top buyer China had criticised the move, which boosted global prices.

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 07:03 UTC

  Goldman Sachs says Brazil’ Real needs to decline 20% to remain competitive

  

  Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, lent his support to Brazilian policy makers' efforts to weaken the Real, saying it needs to decline 20% to keep Latin America's biggest economy competitive.

• Tuesday, March 13th 2012 - 00:56 UTC

  Italy in recession; Greece receives bail out; Spain the new challenge

  

  Italy is in recession, final data confirmed Monday. Italy's economy shrank 0.7% in the fourth quarter of 2011, following a 0.2% decline in GDP in the third quarter.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 22:17 UTC

  Trade, political refugees and Falklands’ flights in CFK/Piñera summit agenda

  

  Increasing common infrastructure projects such as tunnels and border crossings between Chile and Argentina will be the main motive of this week’s presidential summit between Sebastian Piñera and Cristina Fernandez.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 20:49 UTC

  Argentina expected to announce more protectionist measures this week

  

  Argentina plans to intensify its policy of protecting the trade surplus and impeding the outflow of hard currency and this week is expected to add another one hundred tariff positions which will be submitted to an increase in import levies.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 20:05 UTC

  UK minister in Chile accuses Argentina of economic blockade to the Falklands

  

  United Kingdom’s Foreign Office Minister Jeremy Browne on a two-day visit to Chile criticized what he called the “economic blockade” to the Falklands Islands by saying it “wasn’t right” and again reaffirmed the right of self determination for the Islanders.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 08:14 UTC

  Mercosur/EU meet for a new round of negotiations in Brussels

  

  A new round of talks between the European Union and Mercosur is scheduled to begin Monday in Brussels for a week, according to a press release from the Argentine Foreign Affairs.

• Monday, March 12th 2012 - 07:36 UTC

  Inter-American Development Bank meets in Montevideo; over 3.000 attendants

  

  Leading figures from the public, private, and academic sectors will participate in the annual meeting of the Inter American Development Bank, (IDB), In Uruguay, March 15-19, to examine issues that include the European crisis, youth employment, citizen security, culture and sports for youth development, climate change, and cooperation between Asia and Latin America.