
Uruguay has become one of the dearest countries in the region taking into account prices of goods and services according to a survey in eleven cities done by the Group of Newspapers from the Americas, (GDA) a network of the main dailies in the continent.

The Royal Bank of Canada, RBC, is abandoning Uruguay following a raid in its offices at Zonamerica ordered by a Uruguayan magistrate on request from Argentina during which computers, documents on clients and even cell phones from staff were seized by the intervening party which included on-watching Argentine treasury police.

Argentina's central bank approved on Thursday the use of 2.5 billion dollars to pay public debt through the rest of 2013, a move that will further diminish reserves already stretched by heavy state spending ahead of the October midterm election.

Argentina's Consumer Price Index (IPC) was up 0.9% in July, 5.7% in the first seven months of the year and 10.6% in the last twelve months, the official statistics bureau Indec reported on Thursday.

Brazil's economic activity grew at a slightly slower pace than expected in June despite strong industrial output, data showed on Thursday. The central bank's IBC-Br index climbed 1.13% in June from May in seasonally adjusted terms, up from a decline of 1.50% in the previous month.

In an extremely aggressive speech in the aftermath of primaries defeat, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez blasted the media for misinterpreting electoral results, charged against the Mayor of Tigre Sergio Massa who was the big winner on Sunday, pressed for full commitment from her allies and promised more of the same in support of the ‘socially inclusive model’.

Argentina’s inflation according to the ‘congressional index’ reached 2.55% in July and 24.9% in the last twelve months was announced on Wednesday by members from the opposition in the Lower House.

European stock markets mostly rose on Wednesday after official data showed that the Euro zone had finally escaped from a record 18-month recession. The Euro-zone climbed out of recession with surprisingly strong growth of 0.3 percent in the second quarter led by Germany and France, announced the European Union.

Imports of shrimp from Malaysia will be subject to anti-subsidy duties as high as 54.5%, the U.S. Commerce Department said, while lower penalties were set for similar goods from China, Ecuador, India and Vietnam.

Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo has said he is worried about delays at five stadiums still being built for next year's football World Cup. Rebelo said the pace of construction must be accelerated if the venues are to be ready by this December.