Economy

• Friday, April 19th 2013 - 05:46 UTC

  Argentina begins Washington round of contacts ahead of IMF-WB spring meeting

  

  Argentine Economy Minister Hernán Lorenzino is in Washington ready to start his official activities in the margins of the 2013 International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring meeting.

• Friday, April 19th 2013 - 05:39 UTC

  IMF chief summoned to appear before French court over an arbitration payment

  

  IMF chief Christine Lagarde has been summoned to appear before a French magistrate on May 23 for questioning over an arbitration payment to a wealthy supporter of former President Nicholas Sarkozy, news website Mediapart reported.

• Friday, April 19th 2013 - 02:51 UTC

  Argentine international reserves fall below the 40bn dollars benchmark, 8% so far this year

  

  Argentina’s Central bank international reserves have fallen below the 40bn dollars benchmark, which is the lowest in six years, according to the bank’s official data. So far this year the drain has been 3.48bn dollars and 12.84bn from the record 52.6bn of January 2011.

• Friday, April 19th 2013 - 02:38 UTC

  France conditions EU/US trade talks to the exclusion of cultural items

  

  France said it would block proposed negotiations on a free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States unless cultural sectors, such as television and radio, were excluded from the talks.

• Thursday, April 18th 2013 - 21:39 UTC

  “Democracy in Paraguay is here to stay: Mercosur and Unasur have become irrelevant”

  

  “We’re optimistic about Sunday’s election and the future of Paraguay if we can agree on long term state policies, but something is for certain: democracy in Paraguay is here to stay” said Ricardo Caballero Aquino, Chargé d’affaires of the Paraguayan embassy in Montevideo who was also positive about future relations with Unasur and Mercosur.

• Thursday, April 18th 2013 - 16:51 UTC

  Brazil increases benchmark rate to fight inflation, but markets feel it’s not enough

  

  Brazil’s central bank on Wednesday raised its benchmark rate for the first time since July 2011 as policy makers seek to slow inflation levels. The bank’s board, led by President Alexandre Tombini, voted 6-to-2 to increase the Selic rate 25 basis points to 7.50% from a record low.

• Thursday, April 18th 2013 - 02:47 UTC

  IMF admits price-asset bubbles tells Latam financial sector ‘to keep their guard up’

  

  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated on Wednesday that both financial and banking sectors in Latin America “should keep their guards up” before the recent and fast growth of the credit, though the lender doesn’t see any overheat of the region’s economy.

• Wednesday, April 17th 2013 - 07:47 UTC

  A year on YPF’s seizure, Argentina’s energy challenge remains equally strong

  

  Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández takeover of YPF to pare energy imports is backfiring and threatening to narrow the country’s trade surplus needed to pay debt, according to a report from Bloomberg.

• Wednesday, April 17th 2013 - 07:43 UTC

  India’s exports to booming Colombia have crossed the billion dollar mark

  

  By R. Viswanathan - Yes. India's exports to Colombia have crossed the billion dollar mark, reaching 1.124 billion dollars in 2012. Colombia is the third biggest destination of India's exports to Latin America after Brazil and Mexico.

• Wednesday, April 17th 2013 - 07:35 UTC

  Argentine farmers expected to plant more wheat this coming season

  

  Argentina will plant more wheat this season than last year because of farmer-friendly adjustments to the government’s export policy and the bad luck that growers had last season with alternative crops such as barley, a key grain exchange said.