Economy

• Tuesday, October 15th 2013 - 07:59 UTC

  Confidence China is coming off its worst annual economic performance

  

  China, a major driver of the global economy, is coming off its worst annual economic performance since 1999 after GDP managed an expansion of just 7.7% last year. Authorities, however, say weaker growth is in line with their desire to shift the country's economic growth model toward what they see as slower and more sustainable private-led demand rather than previously popular credit-fuelled state-driven investment projects.

• Tuesday, October 15th 2013 - 00:08 UTC

  IMF shocks orthodoxy: tax the rich and target multinationals to fight budget deficits

  

  Tax the rich and better target the multinationals: The IMF has set off shock waves in Washington by suggesting countries fight budget deficits by raising taxes. Tucked inside a report on public debt, the new tack was mostly eclipsed by worries about the US budget crisis, but did not escape the notice of experts and nongovernmental organizations.

• Tuesday, October 15th 2013 - 00:05 UTC

  Nobel in Economics to three Americans trying to unravel 2008 financial crisis

  

  Eugene F. Fama, Robert J. Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for at times conflicting research on how financial markets work and assets such as stocks are priced. The three economists, all Americans, “laid the foundation for the current understanding of asset prices,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said in Stockholm.

• Monday, October 14th 2013 - 23:47 UTC

  Trade agreement with EU “depends on Mercosur” warns top EC official

  

  The conclusion of a trade and cooperation agreement between the European Union and Mercosur ‘only depends on the bloc’ said the European Commission Vice-President for Industry and Entrepreneurship Antonio Tajani.

• Monday, October 14th 2013 - 05:38 UTC

  Brazil considers ‘absurd’ some of Mercosur limitations and points to Argentina

  

  Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said it was ‘absurd’ that in the context of Mercosur the free circulation of goods was non existent and expressed disappointment with Argentina’s obstacles, but nevertheless insisted dialogue was the only valid instrument to overcome trade differences.

• Monday, October 14th 2013 - 05:31 UTC

  IMF warns US default means massive disruption and world recession

  

  The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has warned that a US default could tip the world into recession. In a US TV interview she said a default would result in “massive disruption the world over”.

• Sunday, October 13th 2013 - 12:14 UTC

  Bye, bye Mercosur: Brazil advances on its own in trade agreement with EU

  

  Mercosur has many internal problems and therefore it is much easier to work with Brazil, said European Commission Vice-President for Industry and Entrepreneurship Antonio Tajani who spent this week two days of negotiations with top officials in Brasilia.

• Saturday, October 12th 2013 - 22:11 UTC

  Argentina and Brazil blast IMF for its excess of pessimism regarding emerging economies

  

  Argentina and Brazil strongly questioned the IMF generalized “excess of pessimism” because of a slowing down in emerging economies but also underlined that these countries have the sufficient ‘training’ and recent experience to confront the new challenges.

• Saturday, October 12th 2013 - 22:08 UTC

  IMF calls for financial markets to be monitored by political supervision

  

  Central banks should be independent in setting monetary policy but they should also be tasked with monitoring financial market stability under political supervision, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) chief economist said.

• Saturday, October 12th 2013 - 21:55 UTC

  Argentina denies having set any ultimatum regarding the pulp mill controversy with Uruguay

  

  The Argentine Foreign ministry denied on Friday it had given a two-day ultimatum to Uruguay to suspend the decision allowing the controversial Botnia/UPM pulp mill a production expansion and also demanded an immediate return to bilateral negotiations.