Economy

• Monday, June 10th 2013 - 12:46 UTC

  Brazil world’s top orange juice exporter conditioned by rising labour costs

  

  High production costs have orange growers in Brazil, the world's top orange juice exporter, bracing for a tough citrus season, despite last season's record harvest and high juice prices.

• Saturday, June 8th 2013 - 06:25 UTC

  Venezuelan 12 month inflation reaches 35.2%; prospects of food rationing

  

  With inflation in May reaching 6.1%, the highest monthly rate in 17 years, mostly because of the shortage of basic foods, some states in Venezuela are already planning food rationing fearing the situation could worsen. The Venezuela's Central Bank released the figure on Friday.

• Friday, June 7th 2013 - 23:45 UTC

  Brazil’s inflation still at 6.5% upper; Central bank determined to contain prices

  

  Consumer prices edged up 0.3% in Brazil last month, fuelled by higher medicine, clothing and housing prices, with 12-month inflation at 6.5%, the state statistics agency said on Friday. The May increase, in line with market analysts' forecasts, was lower than the 0.5% recorded in April and the lowest since June 2012.

• Friday, June 7th 2013 - 08:03 UTC

  Mexico and China leave behind mistrust and agree on strategic partnership

  

  Leaving behind an atmosphere of mistrust, China and Mexico agreed this week to upgrade bilateral ties to comprehensive strategic partnership, and thus opening broad prospects for economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

• Friday, June 7th 2013 - 07:52 UTC

  Following the scandal, Libor to come under supervision of EU Paris-based regulator

  

  European authorities are to propose bringing control of the inter-bank lending rate, Libor, under the supervision of a Paris-based regulator. The draft regulation proposes moving oversight of the scandal-hit benchmark from London to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).

• Friday, June 7th 2013 - 05:43 UTC

  S&P cuts Brazil credit rating outlook to negative because of sluggish growth

  

  Brazil’s credit rating outlook was cut to negative by Standard & Poor’s saying sluggish economic growth and an expansionary fiscal policy could lead to higher government debt levels. Reacting to the announcement a spokesperson from the Finance ministry said “there is no change in economic policy and the environment is conducive to investment”.

• Friday, June 7th 2013 - 05:40 UTC

  Uruguay tightens terms for the inflow of short-term capital inflows

  

  Uruguay announced on Thursday new measures to discourage short term speculative capital inflows that have appreciated the Peso, eroded the country’s international competitiveness, made imports cheaper than domestic production and threaten an already stubborn inflation.

• Thursday, June 6th 2013 - 23:26 UTC

  Bank of England leaves rate unchanged as it prepares to receive Mark Carney

  

  The Bank of England on Thursday voted to keep its main interest rate at 0.5% following a monetary policy meeting, the last for departing Governor Mervyn King. The BoE also decided against creating more cash under its Quantitative Easing (QE) program that is aimed at boosting growth amid Britain's fragile economic recovery.

• Thursday, June 6th 2013 - 23:21 UTC

  IMF admits mistakes in Greece, fearing the spill of problems to the rest of Europe

  

  The International Monetary Fund admitted it had to lower its normal standards for debt sustainability to bail out Greece, and its projections for the Greek economy may have been overly optimistic.

• Thursday, June 6th 2013 - 23:12 UTC

  Dragui forecasts Euro-area return to growth by end of 2013

  

  European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Thursday that the Euro-area economy will return to growth by the end of the year, handing policy makers a reason to hold back fresh stimulus. Draghi spoke after the ECB Governing Council in Frankfurt left its main refinancing rate at 0.5% after reducing it by a quarter points last month.