Economy

• Wednesday, February 14th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Bank of England hits of new interest rates rise

  

  The Bank of England has hinted that it is likely that interest rates will need to be increased once more to keep inflation in check, although analysts do not expect any rise to be imminent.
  The Bank's latest inflation report forecasts that consumer price inflation would continue to exceed the 2% target if rates stayed at 5.25%.

• Wednesday, February 14th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Strong stock markets reactions to Fed's forecasts

  

  Stock markets in New York and most of Latinamerica set new record gains on Wednesday following US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke statements that the US economy should grow modestly in 2007 despite a slowdown in housing.

• Tuesday, February 13th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Shipowners order US$105.5B of new vessels in 2006

  

  According to London-based Clarkson, the world's biggest shipbroker, shipowners ordered new vessels worth a record US$105.5 billion in 2006. The trend has been spurred by tanker owners keen to upgrade their fleets ahead of IMO single-hull tanker deadlines that kick in at the end of the decade, according to an article published by Gulf News.

• Tuesday, February 13th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Eurozone growth surprises all 2006 forecasts: 2.7%

  

  Eurozone growth ended 2006 strongly, thanks to better-than-expected growth in Germany and recovery in Italy. Gross domestic product across the 13 countries that use the euro grew 0.9% between October and December, compared with the previous three months.

• Monday, February 12th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Venezuela may control food distribution

  

  President Hugo Chavez's government has drafted a decree allowing it to take control of food distribution chains, possibly including supermarkets and storage depots, if services are interrupted, officials said Sunday.

• Monday, February 12th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Ecuador delays debt payment and readies for political battle

  

  Ecuador's new administration of President Rafael Correa that has threatened to default on the country's debt, will use a 30-day grace period to make a payment that is due this week, Deputy Economy Minister Fausto Ortiz told reporters in Quito.

• Monday, February 12th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Asian fungi detected in Argentina soybean cultivation

  

  Argentina detected the presence of dangerous Asian fungi in soybean cultivations in the province of Santa Fe the second oilseed producing area of the country, reported the Agriculture Health and Quality National Service, SENASA.

• Monday, February 12th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  WTO praises Argentina but warns about inflation

  

  Argentina has successfully emerged from one of the worst recessions in its history, and the economy has been growing at a fast pace since 2003, according to a World Trade Organization Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Argentina released this week.

• Sunday, February 11th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  G 7 demand more exchange rate flexibility for China's Yuan

  

  Finance ministers and bankers from the Group of Seven leading industrialized countries, G7, renewed pressure on China to relax controls over its currency. China promised more flexibility but gave no indication of time or percentages.

• Saturday, February 10th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Emerging markets diversity outpaces JP Morgan

  

  JP Morgan's family of EMBI (Emerging Markets Bond Index) indexes, once seen as the most important measure of aversion to developing countries' risk, no longer expresses the diversity of fast-growing emerging markets, the bank admitted in a report