Economy

• Monday, December 19th 2011 - 07:26 UTC

  President Obama wants to re-float a free trade agreement with South America

  

  United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk announced that the administration of President Barack Obama is intent in reaching a free trade agreement with South America and called for a greater opening of the Brazilian economy.

• Monday, December 19th 2011 - 03:30 UTC

  Mujica “submissive”, “obsequious” with Argentina, claim Uruguayan opposition

  

  Uruguayan opposition called the government of President Jose Mujica “submissive” and “obsequious” with Argentina for having announced it was barring Falkland Islands flagged vessels from the port of Montevideo.

• Monday, December 19th 2011 - 03:11 UTC

  Argentina appeals to sniffer dogs to detect capital flight at border crossings

  

  Argentina attempt to control capital flight through strict foreign exchange measures including the tax revenue office which gives its approval or denial to foreign money transactions have added another tool: sniffer dogs.

• Saturday, December 17th 2011 - 03:24 UTC

  Argentine ‘official’ November inflation reached 0.6% and 8.6% in eleven months

  

  The consumer price index in Argentina during the month of November increased 0.6% according to the official stats office Indec, which is less than half the percentage released by private estimates through the so called Congress inflation index.

• Saturday, December 17th 2011 - 03:10 UTC

  US consumer prices flat in November helped by falling prices of gasoline

  

  US consumer prices were flat in November as Americans paid less for cars and gasoline, while the 12-month inflation reading fell for the second straight month, which could give the Federal Reserve more room to help a still-weak economy.

• Saturday, December 17th 2011 - 02:57 UTC

  Russia after almost two decades is admitted to the World Trade Organization

  

  The World Trade Organization admitted Russia as its newest member on Friday, giving a boost to its biggest trading partner, the European Union.

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:42 UTC

  Mujica denies Argentine pressure, but confirms Falklands flagged vessels are banned

  

  Uruguayan President José ‘Pepe’ Mujica denied on Thursday afternoon suffering pressure from the Argentine government to restrict British ships from docking at Montevideo’s ports.

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:38 UTC

  WTO deal on government buying, opens 100bn dollars of government contracts

  

  The World Trade Organization reached on Thursday a landmark reform on its Government Procurement Agreement, opening 100 billion dollars of government contracts to foreign competition and paving the way for more countries, including China, to join the pact.

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:35 UTC

  IMF warns no economy in the world will be immune to the crisis unfolding

  

  The world economic outlook is “quite gloomy” and will require action by all countries, starting with those in Europe, to head off an escalating crisis that carries risks of a global depression, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.

• Friday, December 16th 2011 - 06:32 UTC

  Fitch downgrades the credit rating of the world’s six largest banks

  

  Fitch announced on Thursday it has downgraded the credit rating of six of the world’s largest banks. The banks include US’ Bank of America, British Barclays, and France’s BNP Paribas.