Economy

• Wednesday, July 6th 2011 - 15:48 UTC

  China hikes rates for the third time this year to combat inflation

  

  China has increased its main interest rates for the third time this year to try to curb inflation. Chinese central bank, the People's Bank of China, said its one-year lending rate would rise to 6.56% from 6.31% and its one-year deposit rate to 3.5% from 3.25%.

• Wednesday, July 6th 2011 - 15:42 UTC

  EU blasts credit rating agencies for downgrading Portugal in midst of negotiations

  

  European Commission strongly criticised international credit ratings agencies following the downgrade of Portugal by Moody's. The Commission said the timing of the downgrade was “questionable” and raised the issue of the “appropriateness of behaviour” of the agencies in general.

• Wednesday, July 6th 2011 - 15:35 UTC

  Brazil 2010/11 soy crop larger than estimated but strong Real eats into profits

  

  Brazil's 2010-11 soy crop was larger than previously estimated, as higher productivity and a greater area of land planted with the oilseed resulted in record output, agricultural consultancy Celeres reported this week.

• Wednesday, July 6th 2011 - 06:23 UTC

  Poland warns trade agreements must abide by EU sanitary and food security standards

  

  Poland which currently holds the rotating chair of the European Union presidency warned that any trade agreements with third parties must strictly abide by the EU sanitary and food security standards.

• Tuesday, July 5th 2011 - 20:02 UTC

  IMF transparency reveals Lagarde’s salary and strict ethics requirements

  

  The IMF revealed its new managing director Christine Lagarde who took office on Tuesday will receive an annual salary of 467,940 US dollars net of income taxes and told her to “observe the highest standards of ethical conduct.”

• Tuesday, July 5th 2011 - 19:28 UTC

  Ireland anticipates rejection of EU/Mercosur trade accord on beef

  

  The Irish government is expecting a report from the European Commission setting out the economic impact on Eire of a potential trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur.

• Tuesday, July 5th 2011 - 16:29 UTC

  How seafood, oil and tourism made ’squidionaires’ and the Falklands’ rich

  

  Caroline Graham from London's Mail on Sunday visited the Falkland Islands for a week and chance had it she arrived when a commercial oil strike was announced by one of the several companies exploring offshore the Islands.

• Tuesday, July 5th 2011 - 06:14 UTC

  Argentina announces aid for areas suffering from the volcanic ash cloud

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced a package of measures to mitigate the effects of ash spewing from Chile's Puyehue volcano that has upended air travel, tourism and farming in Patagonia.

• Tuesday, July 5th 2011 - 05:49 UTC

  Argentina/Chile agree to jointly promote receptive tourism in far distant markets

  

  Argentina and Chile have reached an understanding to join efforts in promoting receptive tourism in far distant overseas markets. The document was signed last week by Chile’s Deputy Secretary for Tourism Jacqueline Plass and the Argentine Tourism minister Enrique Meyer at the Argentina embassy in Santiago de Chile.

• Tuesday, July 5th 2011 - 05:44 UTC

  Toyota Mercosur temporarily closing plants due to lack of parts

  

  Toyota, the world's biggest automaker said Monday it will temporarily halt work at factories in Brazil and Argentina due to the lack of parts from Japan after the massive March quake and tsunami.