Economy

• Tuesday, March 27th 2012 - 12:45 UTC

  Foot and mouth disease outbreak in Egypt with new virus strain

  

  FAO warned that urgent action is required to control a major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease and prevent its spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East, which could have serious implications for food security in the region.

• Tuesday, March 27th 2012 - 12:41 UTC

  BRICS summit to agree on intra-trade and credit on local currencies

  

  The five major emerging economies of BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- are set to inject greater economic momentum into their grouping by signing two pacts for promoting intra-BRICS trade at the fourth summit of their leaders in New Delhi on Thursday.

• Tuesday, March 27th 2012 - 12:31 UTC

  World’s main food suppliers host FAO regional conference in Buenos Aires

  

  Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, opened Monday its Latin America and Caribbean Regional Conference in Buenos Aires which will extend until next Friday when it will announce the issues that will guide FAO actions worldwide.

• Tuesday, March 27th 2012 - 12:17 UTC

  Global stocks rally as Fed confirms easy monetary policy to fight unemployment

  

  Global stocks rallied on Monday while the dollar retreated after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that in order to reduce unemployment, easy monetary policy should stay in place. The benchmark S&P 500 index closed at its highest level since May 2008.

• Tuesday, March 27th 2012 - 12:11 UTC

  Import barriers and inflation change Argentina’s industrial production scenario

  

  Argentina's industrial production fell unexpectedly in February, after 28 consecutive months of expansion, as weaker demand from Brazil hit the key automobile sector. Industrial output fell 0.8% from February 2011 and slid 1.4% from the previous month, said Indec.

• Tuesday, March 27th 2012 - 03:31 UTC

  Argentine economy expands 5.5% in January but activity index is down 0.4% over December

  

  The Argentine economy grew 5.5% in January compared to the same month last year, according to a release from the Indec national statistics bureau. Official data also reported that the monthly economic activity index (EMAE) fell 0.4% against the previous month.

• Tuesday, March 27th 2012 - 03:21 UTC

  US remembers Argentina debts must be honoured and suspends trade benefits

  

  Buenos Aires released a statement on Monday “regretting” US President Barack Obama's decision to suspend Argentina from the US Generalized System of Preferences program, which waives import duties on thousands of goods from developing countries.

• Monday, March 26th 2012 - 09:40 UTC

  US supports competition but confident its nominee will lead the World Bank

  

  Jim Yong Kim, the US nominee to lead the World Bank, will win broad international support despite an unprecedented challenge by candidates from emerging economies, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said in an interview.

• Monday, March 26th 2012 - 09:23 UTC

  Relief for Dublin? Ireland on the verge of becoming significant producer of oil

  

  The euphoria around a small-to-medium oil discovery off the southwest coast of Ireland may be overblown but the country could yet become a significant producer if it can replicate the drilling success in much deeper waters to the west

• Monday, March 26th 2012 - 08:59 UTC

  Printing money does not lead to inflation, argues Argentine central bank president

  

  The president of Argentina’s Central Bank (BCRA), Mercedes Marcó del Pont, stressed the importance of the recently approved bank’s charter reform and denied that printing currency leads to the creation of an inflationary state “since inflation is rooted in other causes”.