Economy

• Monday, May 28th 2012 - 17:10 UTC

  Brazil pressing banks to lower loan rates by 30% and increase lending

  

  Brazilian banks must lower their lending rates by between 30% and 40%, and increase lending, without raising fees, to help spur economic growth, Finance Minister Guido Mantega said in an interview with the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.

• Monday, May 28th 2012 - 16:59 UTC

  Brazil has a plan to bolster subsidized credit to increase corporate investment

  

  Brazil has a plan to bolster subsidized credit aimed at increasing corporate investment with 45 billion Real (approx 22.5 billion dollars) from the country’s development bank, BNDES.

• Monday, May 28th 2012 - 16:52 UTC

  British drinks group buys cachaça distillery in Brazil as it expands to emerging markets

  

  British drinks group Diageo is buying a maker of Brazil's most popular spirit, cachaça for about 470 million dollars, boosting its expansion in fast-growing emerging markets while it fights for a bigger prize in tequila.

• Monday, May 28th 2012 - 16:36 UTC

  Brazil “better prepared” for the current global crisis which will be “softer”

  

  Finance minister Guido Mantega said that Brazil has double the reserves when the 2008 global recession and is prepared to confront a deepening of the European crisis but admitted that the economy would expand below 3.5% which is less than was targeted at the beginning of the year.

• Monday, May 28th 2012 - 07:53 UTC

  How do you remove and relocate half a million hogs? Chile is trying

  

  How do you move and relocate half a million hogs? That is the challenge faced by Chilean sanitary authorities following the closure of the country’s largest pig farm forced after months of complaints from protesting neighbours about the persistent odours and infested waters.

• Monday, May 28th 2012 - 04:44 UTC

  Pre G20 tourism summit discussed ways to promote the industry in the Americas

  

  Public and private sector tourism leaders gathered in Mexico for the Americas Summit of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), a networking and discussion forum held at Riviera Maya on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula.

• Sunday, May 27th 2012 - 03:51 UTC

  Ambassador Argüello explains to the US business community YPF seizure

  

  Argentina explained that the YPF seizure was carried out “in order to avoid an energy crisis” in an article which was published in the US edition of The Financial Times newspaper and signed by Ambassador Jorge Argüello.

• Sunday, May 27th 2012 - 03:47 UTC

  August 3, an emblematic date for Argentina’s “dollar-clamp” policy

  

  The current strict measures to counter the purchase of US dollars and by extension capital flight, implemented by Argentina apparently have a calendar date full of political significance: August 3 when the Boden 2012 fully matures.

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 22:45 UTC

  Government decides to extend soft loans for Brazil’s three largest corporations

  

  Brazil eased rules for subsidized lending by state development bank BNDES to three of the country's biggest companies, in a move that may help President Dilma Rousseff shield a struggling economy from market turmoil abroad.

• Friday, May 25th 2012 - 22:33 UTC

  April consumer confidence rose in Argentina for the first time in five months

  

  A closely watched gauge of Argentina consumer confidence rose for the first time in five months in May, according to a report published this week by Torcuato di Tella University, UTDT.