Economy

• Saturday, March 12th 2011 - 05:21 UTC

  Japan begins huge relief effort: hundreds killed but more feared disappeared

  

  A mammoth relief mission is swinging into action in north-east Japan, a day after it was struck by a devastating tsunami, claiming hundreds of lives. Whole villages have been washed away and at least one town has been largely destroyed.

• Friday, March 11th 2011 - 04:43 UTC

  How Argentina torpedoed Uruguay’s FTA with the US, according to Wikileaks

  

  Although in public former Argentine president Nestor Kirchner was supportive of Uruguay’s negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) with the United States, members of his cabinet warned the US embassy in Buenos Aires that Argentina would block such an initiative in Mercosur, according to the contents of several Wikileaks cables published in Montevideo and Buenos Aires.

• Friday, March 11th 2011 - 01:48 UTC

  In spite of inflation, Bank of England leaves interest rates at record low 0.5%

  

  UK interest rates have been held again at their record low of 0.5% by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. There has now been no change to the Bank rate for two years, despite the fact that inflation is currently twice the Bank's target rate.

• Friday, March 11th 2011 - 01:23 UTC

  European Parliament casts uncertainty over EU/Mercosur trade talks

  

  This week’s strong statement from the European Parliament warning about concessions that ‘can adversely affect European farmers’, precisely a week before Mercosur and EU delegates meet in Brussels to advance trade discussions has caused a certain degree of uncertainty among the South American group delegates.

• Thursday, March 10th 2011 - 22:32 UTC

  Massive inflow of foreign capital into Brazil during first two months of 2011

  

  The inflow of US dollars to Brazil so far this year (Jan-March 4) marks a surplus of 24.3 billion USD over outflows, which helped to further appreciate the Brazilian Real, according to the latest figures released by the Central Bank.

• Thursday, March 10th 2011 - 21:25 UTC

  US trade deficit soars to 46.3 billion in spite of record exports

  

  Stock markets have fallen after figures showed the US trade deficit had widened much more than expected in January. The US Commerce Department said the deficit had widened to 46.3 billion US dollars from 40.3 billion USD in December.

• Thursday, March 10th 2011 - 21:20 UTC

  Rare trade deficit in China; conflicting opinions as to the reasons

  

  Chinese trade figures released Thursday show a surprising deficit for February, as export growth slowed and import numbers remained strong. Chinese statistics released Thursday show that the country registered a trade deficit in February of 7.3 billion US dollars.

• Thursday, March 10th 2011 - 20:16 UTC

  Brazilian markets expect further tightening to bring inflation to target

  

  Brazil's central bank said Thursday it remained cautious about the outlook for prices due to uncertainties in the global economy, and hinted that more than just interest rates may be needed to bring inflation back into line with targets.

• Thursday, March 10th 2011 - 17:56 UTC

  Moody’s downgrades Spain’s sovereign debt rating

  

  Moody's Investors Service on Thursday slashed Spain's sovereign debt rating by a notch to Aa2 with a negative outlook, saying it was uncertain about the country's ability to improve its finances.

• Thursday, March 10th 2011 - 17:43 UTC

  Qatar set to have this year the highest per capita income in the world

  

  Qatar is set to become the country with the world’s highest per capita income following on a breathless 16% growth in 2010 and a forecasted 20% this year according to the latest estimates from the IMF.