Economy

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 06:44 UTC

  Brazil plans to invest heavily in wind farms natural gas fired plants

  

  Brazil which gets about 80% of its energy from hydroelectricity is considering a record investment of 4.1 billion Real (2.5 billion USD) for wind farms this year to diversify its power supply.

• Wednesday, May 25th 2011 - 00:29 UTC

  G20 largest economies are avoiding protectionism says UNCTAS-OECD-WTO

  

  The Group of 20 (G20) largest economies are largely keeping their pledges to avoid protectionism as a reaction to the recent global recession, but the rest of the world is increasing trade barriers, a new report co-authored by the UN said Tuesday.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 23:45 UTC

  Paraguay and European MPs address impasse in Mercosur/EU trade talks

  

  The apparent impasse in the European Union/Mercosur trade talks was addressed by the Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo at a meeting on Tuesday with Members of the European Parliament and the EU delegation to Mercosur negotiations.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 19:39 UTC

  France says China supports Lagarde as next IMF chief given Euro zone situation

  

  China would support Finance Minister Christine Lagarde as the next IMF chief the French government said backing which would put her firmly in pole position to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 00:59 UTC

  One in four Italians faces poverty because of the economy’s chronic low growth

  

  One Italian in four currently faces poverty as a result of the global financial crisis and their country's chronically low growth, the national statistics institute Isat said on Monday in a report.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 00:54 UTC

  Euro troubles and slower growth in China and EU hit Latin American markets

  

  Latin American stocks fell to an eight-month low on Monday triggered by concerns that the Euro zone debt problem was deepening and signs of slower growth in China. The region’s largest market Brazil’s Bovespa ended at its lowest since July 2010

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 00:48 UTC

  Argentina auto industry vows export surplus in 2012 after a 6 billion USD deficit in 2010

  

  Ford Motor Argentina is the latest carmaker to sign an agreement with the government to boost exports to compensate for increased imports. Ford has vowed to boost its export surplus to 90 million USD by 2012, the Economy ministry said in a press release Monday. That follows a deficit of 250 million USD in 2010.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 00:46 UTC

  Argentina’s April trade surplus suffers significant contraction on soaring imports

  

  Argentina's trade surplus narrowed 38% in April compared to a year ago with imports increasing far more swiftly than exports, official data showed on Monday.

• Tuesday, May 24th 2011 - 00:40 UTC

  S&P revises upward Brazil’s sovereign credit rating from stable to positive

  

  Standard & Poor's said on Monday it had revised its outlook on Brazil's sovereign credit rating to “positive” from “stable,” citing the prospect for steady, long-term economic growth.

• Monday, May 23rd 2011 - 06:16 UTC

  France wants to combat commodities volatility, not limit prices

  

  The best way to cool soaring food prices is to boost output, the Argentine government said, following talks on a French proposal for increased regulation of commodity markets in the framework of a G20 meeting in Buenos Aires.