Economy

• Thursday, April 4th 2013 - 07:56 UTC

  Uruguay reports lower inflation in March but the first quarter index was 3.59%

  

  Uruguay consumer prices climbed 0.66% during March totalling 3.59% in the first quarter of the year and 8.54% in the last twelve months, according to a Wednesday release from the National Stats Office, INE.

• Thursday, April 4th 2013 - 07:51 UTC

  Brazilian industrial production continues to struggle despite all the incentives

  

  Brazil’s industrial output shrank more than expected in February, reversing most of the previous month’s gains and casting fresh doubt over the health of an anaemic recovery in the struggling sector.

• Thursday, April 4th 2013 - 07:45 UTC

  Brazil central bank admits difficulties in taming stubbornly high inflation

  

  Brazil’s Central Bank will keep a close eye on the economy to see if there is a need for any action to tame stubbornly high inflation, the bank's chief Alexandre Tombini said in a presentation to the Senate's economic affairs committee

• Thursday, April 4th 2013 - 02:47 UTC

  Argentine defaulted bond-holders have until 22 April to respond to the proposed payment plan

  

  A US appeals court gave holders of defaulted Argentina debt three weeks to respond to the country’s proposed plan to pay them much less than the 1.33 billion dollars they have sued to collect.

• Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 - 06:48 UTC

  Buenos Aires collapses after 155mm of rainfall in seven hours flood the city

  

  At least eight people are reported dead after torrential rain and powerful winds battered Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires and surrounding neighbourhoods flooding streets, knocking out power, downing trees and damaging homes and cars, officials said Tuesday. An estimated 350.000 people have been affected by the floods.

• Wednesday, April 3rd 2013 - 03:49 UTC

  Francis first real challenge: re-structuring the scandal ridden Vatican bank

  

  Pope Francis, who has said he wants the Catholic Church to be a model of austerity and honesty, could restructure or even close the Vatican's scandal-ridden bank as part of a broad review of its troubled bureaucracy, Vatican sources say.

• Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 - 20:50 UTC

  Falklands’ shipping company improves reefer box service and storage capacity

  

  The Falkland Islands shipping company South American Atlantic Services Ltd (SAAS) has turned a “nightmare,” into a going concern and is now over-target on imports, Director Hamish Wylie told customers and other invited guests at a reception at the SAAS offices in Stanley last week.

• Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 - 20:28 UTC

  Eleven million Argentines, 26.9% of the population live in poverty conditions

  

  An estimated 11 million Argentines or 26.9% out of a population of 40 million live in poverty according to the Social Observatory from the Argentine Catholic University, (UCA) based on a survey taken at the end of last year. However according to Argentina questioned stats’ office Indec, in the second half of 2012, poverty was down to 5.4% of the population equivalent to 2.2 million poor.

• Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 - 20:15 UTC

  Brazil’s boom crops expose port congestion and lack of infrastructure

  

  Brazil’s soybean production has reached record levels this season which could make the country the world’s leading producer but port congestion and lack of storage capacity are impeding exports of soybean as producers fear losing international markets.

• Tuesday, April 2nd 2013 - 19:42 UTC

  Real estate prices’ increase in Rio and Sao Paulo among the highest in the world

  

  The latest Knight Frank’s Global Real Estate Index released this month has Brazil ranking No. 3 in the world and No. 1 in the Americas for rising home prices. Only ridiculously expensive Hong Kong and Dubai, which are not countries, have seen prices rise more. So in fact, no single country has seen its housing prices increase as much as Brazil.