Economy

• Monday, January 11th 2010 - 12:41 UTC

  Budget emergency and draconian spending cuts in California

  

  The governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has unveiled deep spending cuts aimed at containing the state's 20 billion US dollars budget deficit. Spending on health, welfare, transport and the environment is to be reduced.

• Monday, January 11th 2010 - 12:33 UTC

  Central bank conflict: Argentina’s institutional soundness at stake

  

  Argentina's government filed an appeal this weekend against a court ruling that blocked its plan to use Central Bank reserves to pay debts and ordered the bank president's reinstatement, the Cabinet chief said.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 14:18 UTC

  Chavez devalues Bolivar, establishes dual exchange rate

  

  Venezuela devalued on Friday the official exchange rate of the Bolivar currency for the first time since March 2005, and created a second exchange rate for non-essential imports, to stimulate exports and close a fiscal deficit.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 14:13 UTC

  Argentine sovereign bond holdouts reject latest payment offer

  

  Argentina's new debt-swap offer to US creditors is “unacceptable” and does not improve on a proposal it made five years ago, the president of the debt-holding group Argentina Task Force, Robert Shapiro, said on Thursday, quoted by French news agency AFP.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 13:27 UTC

  Swiss regulators “violated” the law by handing bank information to the US

  

  Swiss financial regulator FINMA violated the law by authorising UBS to hand over details of 300 clients to US authorities, a Swiss court has ruled.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 08:44 UTC

  Euro-zone officially out of recession but with record 10% unemployment

  

  The unemployment rate in Euro-zone counties is currently running at 10%, its highest since August 1998, according to the statistics agency Eurostat. In November last year, another 102,000 people lost their jobs, bringing the overall figure above 15.7 million.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 08:23 UTC

  Central Bank of Chile is releasing a new 10,000 Pesos note

  

  After 20 years in circulation, the current 10,000 Chilean peso bill will be replaced this coming year, courtesy of commercial banks.

• Saturday, January 9th 2010 - 08:08 UTC

  Surprise rise in US unemployment during December

  

  US employers unexpectedly cut 85,000 jobs in December, but the unemployment rate held steady at 10%, official figures have shown. The number of job losses was surprising, particularly after November's figures had been revised.

• Friday, January 8th 2010 - 13:01 UTC

  Excellent rain-timing anticipates record crops in Brazil of coffee and soy

  

  Brazil's coffee crop may beat the 48.48 million bag record this year, the country's crop supply agency said in a report which also raised forecasts for the newly-begun soybean harvest.

• Friday, January 8th 2010 - 08:11 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner gets her way and will pay debts with Central bank reserves

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her cabinet signed Thursday a disputed decree removing Central Bank President Martin Redrado from office amid a fight over the use of bank reserves to pay debt due this year.