Economy

• Thursday, August 4th 2011 - 20:20 UTC

  Euro zone resumes bond purchases amid fears of growing crisis contagion

  

  European Central Bank (ECB) announced Thursday it will offer a fresh round of loans to banks (*) in light of continuing fears about the Euro-zone debt crisis. ECB president Jean Claude Trichet said that economic uncertainty was “particularly high”'.

• Thursday, August 4th 2011 - 19:37 UTC

  US Senate breakthrough for trade agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama

  

  The United States Senate leaders ended an impasse over stalled free-trade agreements, agreeing to vote after the August recess on benefits for workers who lose their jobs because of overseas competition, which opens the way for the approval of pending agreements with Korea, Colombia and Panama.

• Thursday, August 4th 2011 - 19:32 UTC

  Argentina manufacturers demand similar ‘Brazilian package’ to prop industry

  

  Following on the steps of her Brazilian peer who this week unveiled an ambitious plan to prop industry, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner met with the country’s leading business and corporate representatives and promised her government would take all the necessary measures to defend the market from the massive influx of outer region imported goods.

• Thursday, August 4th 2011 - 19:21 UTC

  US gross national debt equivalent to 100% of GDP, first time since 1947

  

  The United States gross debt shot up 238 billion dollars to reach 100% of GDP after the government's debt ceiling was lifted, Treasury figures showed. On Tuesday, the Treasury had to add more than 200 billion of commitments immediately after President Barack Obama signed into law an increase in the debt ceiling.

• Thursday, August 4th 2011 - 19:14 UTC

  Compromise achieved, fiscal reform is the next chapter, says Geithner

  

  Following the political agreement which enabled the US Congress to lift the debt ceiling and avoid default, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner wrote a piece for The Washington Post, where he displays what in his opinion are the following steps for the world’s largest economy to restore fiscal responsibility and sustainability.

• Thursday, August 4th 2011 - 06:39 UTC

  Brazil to request additional exceptions from Mercosur common external tariff

  

  Brazil will request at least 100 additional exceptions from Mercosur common external tariff, TEC, as part of the program to prop local industry that was announced earlier this week and includes tax relief to the tune of 16 billion dollars.

• Thursday, August 4th 2011 - 06:36 UTC

  July marked the second largest net inflow, in record, of dollars into Brazil: 15.8bn

  

  Brazil registered its second-largest volume of net monthly foreign-exchange inflows on record in July. Net dollar inflows in the month reached 15.83 billion, compared with 2.56 billion in net outflows in June and only 713 million in net inflows in July last year.

• Thursday, August 4th 2011 - 06:32 UTC

  While the world rejects flood of dollars, in Argentina it’s a ‘flight to safety’

  

  While in the rest of South America governments are trying to make the inflow of US dollars more difficult in Argentina the greenback is in great demand as the coming presidential election has triggered a solid “flight to safety”.

• Thursday, August 4th 2011 - 06:28 UTC

  Uruguay soy crop reached 1.5 million tons with average yield of 1.788 kilos

  

  Soybean was king of corps in Uruguay last summer with 1.5 million tons planted in 862.000 hectares and with an average yield of 1.788 kilos per ha, according to the latest data from the country’s Agriculture Statistics Office, DIEA.

• Thursday, August 4th 2011 - 06:25 UTC

  Argentina’s car production up 27.2% and exports 25% in seven months of 2011

  

  Argentina’s car output increased 27.2% in the first seven months of the year and totalled 462,926 units, according to the Association of Automotive Factories (ADEFA). In July production soared to 70,628 units, increasing 22.6% to the same month last year.