Economy

• Saturday, June 27th 2009 - 10:42 UTC

  Paraguayan president insists in recovering Itaipu “energy sovereignty”

  

  President Fernando Lugo reiterated Friday that Paraguay did not yield and will not yield “energy sovereignty” claims for power generated from South America’s largest hydroelectric dam Itaipu which it shares with neighbouring Brazil.

• Saturday, June 27th 2009 - 10:19 UTC

  OIE congress calls on rich countries to help eradicate FMD

  

  The Director General of the World Organization for Animal Health, OIE, Bernard Vallat called Friday on developed countries free of foot and mouth disease FMD, to help developing countries eradicate the disease.

• Saturday, June 27th 2009 - 10:16 UTC

  China again calls for “super-sovereign” currency to replace US dollar

  

  China's central bank has reiterated its call for a new reserve currency to replace the US dollar. The report from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said a “super-sovereign” currency should take its place.

• Saturday, June 27th 2009 - 10:12 UTC

  Spain approves 9 billion Euro support fund for banking system

  

  The Spanish cabinet approved Friday a 9 billion Euro (12.7 billion US dollars) fund to help revive the financial sector by buying stakes in banks hit by the global crisis and get them lending again.

• Friday, June 26th 2009 - 12:59 UTC

  Astori’s team looks for support (and funds) from Argentine businessmen

  

  Leaders from the grouping which supports Uruguayan presidential hopeful Danilo Astori cautioned in Buenos Aires that if Senator Jose Mujica is nominated candidate next Sunday, the ruling coalition’s re-election chances could be impaired.

• Friday, June 26th 2009 - 03:28 UTC

  Fearful Argentines taking their dollar savings to Uruguay for shelter

  

  Safe deposit boxes in Uruguay are overflowing with US dollars from fearful Argentines concerned about the situation in their country and the results of Sunday’s mid term elections, according to banking sources in Montevideo.

• Thursday, June 25th 2009 - 17:27 UTC

  Argentina’s industrial production falls for fifth month running

  

  Argentine industrial production fell 1.7% in May from a year earlier and was down 0.2% on the month, according to the latest release from the country’s Statistics Institute. This is the fifth month running that industrial production has been contracting.

• Thursday, June 25th 2009 - 06:16 UTC

  US recession “slowing” but economy is expected to remain weak, says Fed

  

  The United States Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged on Wednesday and said that the recession in the US is “slowing” but “economic activity is likely to remain weak for a time”.

• Wednesday, June 24th 2009 - 08:10 UTC

  Uruguayan residents have 7.1 billion US dollars in overseas banks

  

  Uruguayan residents’ savings in overseas banks totalled 7.1 billion US dollars in the last quarter of 2008, which represents a slight drop from September 2008 but 14% over December 2006 (6.25 billion USD) according to the latest report from the Bank of International Settlements, BIS.

• Wednesday, June 24th 2009 - 05:47 UTC

  Uruguay’s imports plummet for the fifth month running, 41% in May

  

  Uruguay’s imports again plummeted in May for the fifth month running, with the highest inter-annual negative rate, 41%, according to the latest data from the Central Bank released this week.