Economy

• Tuesday, February 28th 2012 - 05:02 UTC

  Brazil will cut the benchmark interest rate “to less than 10%” this year

  

  Brazilian central bank survey showing interest rate levels are inconsistent with the country’s inflation target won’t alter policy makers’ strategy of lowering borrowing costs further, bank President Alexandre Tombini said.

• Tuesday, February 28th 2012 - 04:21 UTC

  Europe’s biggest bank with record profits from operations in Latam and Asia

  

  HSBC Holdings Plc said a 1 billion dollars increase in its wages bill in Brazil, China and other emerging markets was the price of avoiding the stagnant growth which has dogged some rival lenders more dependent on Europe.

• Tuesday, February 28th 2012 - 01:58 UTC

  Mercosur/Gulf states closer to trade agreement but leaving petrochemicals for later

  

  Brazil is eager to finalize a free trade agreement between the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and the Mercosur bloc but believes the petrochemicals sector will be exempted until further study after the signing, said Brazilian Trade and Industry Minister Fernando Pimentel.

• Tuesday, February 28th 2012 - 01:51 UTC

  YPF feeling the noose from Argentina; Madrid doing its best to defend Spanish interest

  

  Foreign Affairs minister Jose Manuel García-Margallo assured that the Spanish government “is doing what must be done” to defend the interests of Spanish companies in Argentina, but has avoided releasing details.

• Tuesday, February 28th 2012 - 00:27 UTC

  EC report on trade and investments criticizes Mercosur protectionism

  

  The European Commission in its latest report on trade and investments complains about Mercosur protectionist policies, restrictions to maritime transport and to the export of commodities particularly from Brazil and Argentina.

• Tuesday, February 28th 2012 - 00:23 UTC

  Emerging economies decided to challenge US predominance in the World Bank

  

  Emerging economies said on Sunday that they will challenge a tradition that has placed an American at the head of the World Bank for decades, as the President Obama administration shows sensitivity to the need for change at global institutions.

• Monday, February 27th 2012 - 17:39 UTC

  China at turning point: current model is unsustainable says the World Bank

  

  The World Bank has warned China’s government that it must relax its grip on industry and move towards a free-market economy.

• Monday, February 27th 2012 - 04:47 UTC

  G-20 wants second 2 trillion dollars global Euro-zone rescue package by next April

  

  The world's leading economies worked to line up a deal in April on a second global rescue package worth nearly 2 trillion dollars to stop the Euro-zone sovereign debt crisis from spreading and putting at risk the tentative recovery.

• Friday, February 24th 2012 - 20:38 UTC

  Uruguay admits textile exports could be infringing Brazil’s antidumping rules

  

  Uruguay’s Minister of Industry and Energy Roberto Kreimerman admitted that Brazil suspended the access of textiles from Uruguay alleging that they were essentially Chinese cloth rolls with minimum input but stamped as Uruguayan manufactured and dispatched to Brazil.

• Friday, February 24th 2012 - 19:07 UTC

  Caritas Spain: 22% of households below poverty line, another 30% on the cliff

  

  A report examining Spain’s current levels of poverty has made national headlines after its launch revealed shocking figures. Caritas Spain has drawn attention to the precariousness facing millions of people at a time when networks of social aid are in danger of disappearing.