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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, June 13th 2026 - 14:36 UTC

Economy

  • Tuesday, December 6th 2016 - 09:09 UTC

    Chilean economy contracts for the first time in seven years; minister blames “temporary factors”

    Finance minister Rodrigo Valdes said that the 0.40% drop in economic activity in Chile in October was due to temporary factors

    Chile's economy contracted for the first time in seven years in annual terms, as manufacturing and mining activity fell, potentially paving the way for the central bank to cut interest rates to spur growth. Economic activity fell 0.4% in October from the year-earlier month, the first annual contraction since October 2009, central bank data showed on Monday.

  • Tuesday, December 6th 2016 - 08:09 UTC

    South Georgia coin to celebrate centenary of Endurance Expedition

    The reverse design shows the tall ship Endurance stuck in the ice in the background, with the crew pulling the sled on the ice pack in the foreground.

    The government and treasury of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands issued a new Crown coin that pays tribute to and celebrates the centenary anniversary of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, also known as the Endurance Expedition. The expedition was named after its ship and is considered by some to be the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

  • Monday, December 5th 2016 - 21:36 UTC

    Italian “No” wave hits Euro in Japanese markets

    Political uncertainty in Europe brings Euro closer to the US dollar in Asia

    The euro tumbled on Monday in Tokyo following the results in a referendum held in Italy on Sunday to decide whether Prime Minister's Matteo Renzi's plan to reform the Constitution should be carried out. After conceding defeat, Renzi announced he would be submitting his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella on Monday. The referendum results raised political uncertainty at continental level.

  • Monday, December 5th 2016 - 11:06 UTC

    Euro skids to a 20-month low on Rienzi's resignation; all eyes on EU Central bank

    EU Central Bank meets Thursday amid much speculation it will decide a six month extension of its asset buying program and widen the type of bonds it can purchase.

    The Euro skidded to a 20-month low after Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he would resign following a stinging defeat on constitutional reform that could destabilize the country's shaky banking system. Renzi's defeat deals a body blow to the European Union already reeling under anti-establishment anger that led to the shock exit of UK from the club in June this year.

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 09:53 UTC

    Two Chinese large-scale jiggers heading for the SW Atlantic, announces Pingtan

    Pingtan currently operates 135 fishing vessels, 12 of which are operating in the Bay of Bengal in India, along with 13 vessels operating in Indo-Pacific Waters.

    China's Pingtan Marine has announced the launch of two new squid jiggers, bound for the southwest Atlantic and southeast Pacific oceans. The two newly-completed vessels should reach fishing grounds by late December, and sales of squid catches are then expected to begin in the first quarter of 2017.

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 09:41 UTC

    Old-fashioned cigarette doomed, says world's largest tobacco company

    Andre Calantzopoulos, CEO of Philip Morris, manufacturer of the world's top cigarette brand Marlboro, sees the business shifting to electronic smoking devices

    A historic lawsuit loss to Uruguay over tobacco-related cancer damages and other technological developments have Philip Morris focusing on new alternatives. “I think the time will come when we will have enough acceptance of these alternative products to begin to propose, along with the governments, a gradual elimination of conventional cigars,” the company CEO Andre Calantzopoulos announced.

  • Saturday, December 3rd 2016 - 07:32 UTC

    US unemployment falls to nine-year low in November, 4.6%, but earnings slowdown

    The Federal Reserve will hold its next two-day policy meeting on 13-14 December when it is expected to raise rates

    United States unemployment rate fell to a nine-year low in November, adding to expectations that US interest rates will rise later this month. Figures from the Labor Department showed the US economy created 178,000 jobs in November, while the jobless rate fell to 4.6% from 4.9% in October.

  • Friday, December 2nd 2016 - 08:56 UTC

    Peruvian aquaculture expanding at an annual 20% rate

    “Production jumped from 6,596 tons a year in 2000 to 115,271 tons in 2014,” said Vice Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Hector Soldi.

    Aquaculture activity grows at an annual average of more than 20% in Peru, ranking among the countries with the greatest increase of this activity in Latin America.“Our country is an important player in the supply of inputs for the world’s aquaculture industry, it is not foreign to the growth trends that this activity presents in the world. We changed from a production of 6,596 tons in the year 2000 to 115,271 tons in 2014,” said Vice Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Hector Soldi.

  • Friday, December 2nd 2016 - 08:43 UTC

    Italy's referendum could knock out Rienzi and unleash a financial volcano

    There are real concerns that a defeat for Mr Renzi's proposals could unleash a chain of events that would set back the country's economy once again.

    The focus of the news from Italy this weekend will be political: there's a referendum on constitutional reform and the Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, has said he will resign if the proposals are rejected. This could be followed by new elections which could in turn benefit the Five Star Movement, an anti-Euro group led by the former comedian Beppe Grillo.

  • Friday, December 2nd 2016 - 08:31 UTC

    Prince Cruise Lines fined US$ 40 million for dumping waste off England

    The charges relate to Caribbean Princess cruise ship, which allegedly had been making illegal discharges since 2005, one year after the vessel started operations.

    A US cruise liner is to pay a record fine of US$40m for dumping oil-contaminated waste, the US Department of Justice has said. The investigation into Princess Cruise Lines followed a tip-off that the company had illegally discharged oily waste off the coast of England in 2013.