Economy

• Monday, December 12th 2011 - 19:54 UTC

  Mercosur planning to change rules to ensure full incorporation of Venezuela

  

  Uruguayan president Jose Mujica announced Mercosur is considering the modification of legislation so that Venezuela can definitively be incorporated as a full member to the South American trade block, which has been blocked for several years now by the Paraguayan Congress.

• Monday, December 12th 2011 - 19:26 UTC

  Economists downgrade Brazil’s growth estimates for this year and 2012

  

  Brazilian bank economists cut the country’s growth estimate for this year to below 3%, (2.97%) according to a last week survey by the Central bank of over one hundred institutions and which was released Monday.

• Monday, December 12th 2011 - 04:56 UTC

  German Finance minister confident EU agreement will solve Euro debt crisis

  

  German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said agreements reached at an EU summit this week will solve the Euro zone's debt crisis and that Germany needs a strong Europe.

• Monday, December 12th 2011 - 04:40 UTC

  Chile names Harvard-educated economist as new Central bank president

  

  Chile named this week member of the board and Harvard-educated Rodrigo Vergara Montes as the new President of the Central bank replacing outgoing Jose De Gregorio. President Sebastian Piñera still has to name the fifth member of the board.

• Monday, December 12th 2011 - 04:33 UTC

  EU deal ‘is part of the solution, but not the solution’ says IMF chief economist

  

  The agreement reached by European countries for deeper economic integration was a step in the right direction but not a complete solution for the Euro zone's debt crisis, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist Olivier Blanchard said.

• Monday, December 12th 2011 - 04:27 UTC

  Chile with the worst OECD indexes; income ratio between rich and poor 27 to 1

  

  According to a new study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, income inequality in most economically developed countries is the worst it has been in nearly 25 years. Ten countries from the OECD report, particularly Chile are identified as having the worst income inequality.

• Monday, December 12th 2011 - 00:06 UTC

  China admits ‘severe challenges’ to exports because of EU and US slowdown

  

  China faces “severe challenges” to its exports due to economic difficulties in key Western markets, the country's commerce ministry has warned. Data has shown a sharp slowdown in export growth in November, the ministry said.

• Sunday, December 11th 2011 - 23:45 UTC

  China’s rate of inflation slides in November to its lowest in 14-months

  

  China's rate of inflation has fallen in November to its slowest pace in 14-months. Consumer prices rose at 4.2% compared with the same month last year, the National Bureau of Statistics said this week.

• Saturday, December 10th 2011 - 20:50 UTC

  CFK ratifies model but calls for competitiveness from labour and corporations

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández began on Saturday before Congress her second term with a seventy minutes speech strongly focused on domestic issues with clear messages to labour, corporations, the financial sector, the Judiciary but also a “fine tuning” pledge to continue with the current national, popular, inclusive economic development model.

• Saturday, December 10th 2011 - 05:55 UTC

  Argentina and Brazil agree to jointly promote trade and manufacturing

  

  Argentina and Brazil agreed on Friday to “increase” in the “short term” regional trade in a shared strategy to address the consequences of the global crisis. The commitment was endorsed by Argentina’ Industry minister Debora Giorgi and her Brazilian counterpart Fernando Pimentel.