Economy

• Saturday, April 21st 2012 - 03:51 UTC

  Brazil will continue to intervene in support of industry and depressing its currency

  

  Brazilian Finance minister Guido Mantega said on Friday that IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde makes a mistake in recommending emerging countries not to intervene in the money exchange markets to counter the strong devaluation of currencies from the rich countries.

• Friday, April 20th 2012 - 19:20 UTC

  New FMD strain in Egypt; 100.000 cattle infected, no vaccine for SAT2

  

  A new strain of Foot and Mouth Disease, known as SAT2, has broken out in Egypt and is threatening to spread to other areas of northern Africa and the Middle East.

• Friday, April 20th 2012 - 04:44 UTC

  US fully supports IMF in demanding Argentina submits its stats to IMF for review

  

  The US government considers Argentine is obliged to submit its economic statistics to be validated by the IMF, and Washington will support all efforts from the multilateral organization so that the objective can be achieved.

• Thursday, April 19th 2012 - 19:38 UTC

  World Bank and France criticize Argentina’s “mistake” and international law breach

  

  Argentina's move to nationalize local oil company YPF, controlled by Spain's Repsol, was strongly criticized by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé.

• Thursday, April 19th 2012 - 04:59 UTC

  Brazil lowers basic rate to 9%, sixth straight reduction and more could come

  

  Brazil lowered its benchmark interest rate to a near-historic low of 9% on Wednesday, as expected, but the central bank surprised with hints that more cuts may follow to revive Latin America's largest economy.

• Wednesday, April 18th 2012 - 22:44 UTC

  Colombia protests before WTO Argentina’s trade restrictions

  

  Colombia has sent a letter to the World Trade Organization protesting Argentina's import restrictions on its products, the government announced Wednesday.

• Wednesday, April 18th 2012 - 08:30 UTC

  Debts and environmental cleanup to subtracted from YPF compensation says Argentina

  

  Argentina accused Spain's Repsol oil company on Tuesday of hiding the true value of its Argentine YPF unit and said a thorough review of its books after seizing control of its offices will affect the compensation paid to its shareholders.

• Wednesday, April 18th 2012 - 08:26 UTC

  Fitch places Repsol on Rating Watch Negative following the YPF takeover operation

  

  Fitch Ratings has placed Repsol YPF, SA's ratings on Rating Watch Negative (RWN) following news that YPF takeover has been set in motion by the Argentine government.

• Wednesday, April 18th 2012 - 08:23 UTC

  Brazilian economy set to grow 3%, but with risks of overheating, says IMF

  

  The Brazilian economy is set to grow 3% in 2012 after the modest 2.7% of last year, but following the relaxation of monetary policy it runs the risk of ‘overheating’, according to the IMF World Economic Outlook, WEO.

• Tuesday, April 17th 2012 - 20:04 UTC

  IMF estimates less growth (3.5%) and higher prices (7.4%) for Uruguay in 2012

  

  Uruguay growth estimate has been downed for 2012 while prices will be higher, according to the latest IMF World Economic Outlook released on Tuesday. The economy is set to grow 3.5% down from 4.2% while prices will climb to 7.4% compared to the 6.5% estimate of the previous WEO last September.