Economy

• Wednesday, April 10th 2013 - 22:21 UTC

  Opposition candidate claims Argentina owes Venezuela 13billion dollars in oil contracts

  

  The opposition candidate in Venezuela’s next Sunday’s presidential again pounded on his country’s foreign policy and claimed that Argentina has a pending debt of 13 billion dollars arising from oil contracts.

• Wednesday, April 10th 2013 - 22:00 UTC

  Euro crisis and protectionism anticipate a weak year for world trade warns Lamy

  

  WTO Director General Pascal Lamy warned that 2013 could turn out even weaker than expected, especially because of risks from the Euro crisis as countries might try to restrict trade further in a desperate attempt to shore up domestic growth.

• Wednesday, April 10th 2013 - 08:05 UTC

  The Americas have an ‘unprecedented opportunity’ for sustained growth

  

  The countries of the Americas face an ‘unprecedented opportunity’ for sustained growth supported by a newfound sense of optimism, said the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza at the Palm Beach Strategic Forum.

• Wednesday, April 10th 2013 - 07:33 UTC

  Petrobras calls for clear rules to foster investment in shale production development

  

  Brazil’s oil and gas Petrobras said Argentina needs clear rules to foster investments if it wants to develop its unconventional oil and gas resources.

• Wednesday, April 10th 2013 - 07:28 UTC

  Uruguay leads in beef consumption: 60 kilos per capita per year

  

  Uruguay’s per capita consumption of meats last year reached 98 kilos which represents a 3.4% increase over 2011 and above the average of developed countries that stands at 78 kilos per person per year, according to stats released by the country’s National Meats Institute, INAC.

• Wednesday, April 10th 2013 - 07:24 UTC

  Fitch ratings downgrades China’s Yuan sovereign credit rating

  

  Fitch Ratings has downgraded China's sovereign credit rating, warning about a credit build-up in the economy that could threaten the recovery. The agency cited “underlying structural weaknesses” and a growing risk from shadow banking. The downgrade is for Yuan-denominated debt, not foreign currency debt.

• Wednesday, April 10th 2013 - 00:21 UTC

  ILO paper warns of social unrest risk in the Euro-zone as unemployment keeps climbing

  

  Unemployment at unprecedented levels in the European Union means the risk of social unrest is on the rise says the UN's International Labour Organization Miguel Angel Malo who argues that EU politicians need to abandon austerity and embrace job creation.

• Tuesday, April 9th 2013 - 02:17 UTC

  A ticking economic bomb waits for whoever wins next Sunday in Venezuela

  

  Whoever wins next Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela faces an economic time bomb with food shortages, insufficient US dollars to pay for imports and honour the country’s debt, a devastated economy full of inefficient nationalized companies and non productive farms plus mounting promises of further handouts from the government and inflation.

• Monday, April 8th 2013 - 00:04 UTC

  Brazil exporters anticipate May/June port chaos with soy, sugar and corn crops coincide

  

  The logistics chaos in the Brazilian port of Santos (one of the busiest of the country) in mid March with the first shipments of a record soy crop will become even worse in May and June, according to the Jose Augusto de Castro, president of the Brazilian Association of Foreign Trade, AEB.

• Sunday, April 7th 2013 - 23:58 UTC

  Brazil planning agency to manage fluvial ports, waterways and locks

  

  The administration of President Dilma Rousseff is working on the creation of a new agency which will be responsible for Brazil’s fluvial ports and terminals, waterways and locks. The ‘Hidrobras’ project is being drafted by the Ministries of Transport and Planning and will look after shipping in the fluvial system, “which is currently exploited far below its possibilities and potential”.