
Argentina's lawyers tried on Friday to assure a US federal judge that it would not evade orders to pay 1.33 billion dollars to bondholders who refused to accept its debt-restructuring offers, if the US Supreme Court (on 12 June) declines the case.

IMF managing director Christine Lagarde touring east Africa, on Friday cautiously welcomed steps taken by Argentina to settle a decade-old falling out with creditors, following a 9.7bn dollars five year repayment deal reached this week.

Following Argentina's agreement to resolve its 9.7bn debt to Paris Club member nations within five years, American Task Force Argentina co-chairs Robert Shapiro and Ambassador Nancy Soderberg have declared their support for Argentina's pledge to act responsibly and encouraged the Argentine government to go further.

Foreign direct investment in Uruguay totaled 2.79bn dollars last year, which is slightly higher than the 2.68bn of 2012, equivalent to 5% of GDP, according to the latest report on FDI for the region from the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Brazil's economy grew 0.2% in the first quarter compared to the final three months of 2013, a pace slower than economists had forecast, the government said Friday. Meanwhile GDP rose 1.9% relative to the first quarter of 2013, according to figures released by the state-run Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE.

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez praised on Thursday the agreement reached with Paris Club creditors and said that the government will now turn to international credit markets to finance “infrastructure, development, and technology.”

French Finance Minister Michel Sapin praised Argentina’s agreement with Paris Club creditors, saying it highlights the country’s effort to “normalize its relations with creditors.”

Former Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer was sworn in as a member of the Federal Reserve's board this week, buttressing the U.S. central bank's depleted policymaking ranks as officials map out plans to exit from their extraordinary stimulus.

The US economy shrank by an annualized 1% in the first three months of 2014, official estimates have shown. It is the worst economic performance since the first quarter of 2011 and a big fall on the 2.6% rise in economic output in the final quarter of last year.

A family living in Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires needs 10.454 Pesos to make it to the end of the month, according to the city's stats and census office. The average household refers to a couple with two children, that pays rent and does not include transport, private education or health care.