Economy

• Saturday, December 11th 2010 - 05:52 UTC

  China increases banks’ reserves, third time in five weeks, to counter inflation

  

  China increased banks reserve requirements for the third time in five weeks to counter the threat from inflation after November’s lending and trade surplus topped analysts’ estimates.

• Saturday, December 11th 2010 - 00:34 UTC

  Brazil’s Embraer moves into the defence and security industry

  

  Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer on Friday unveiled a new subsidiary to focus solely on the defence and security industry, in a further move beyond from its core civil aviation business. The company said in a statement its new Embraer Defence and Security unit will be headed by Chief Financial Officer Luiz Carlos Aguiar.

• Friday, December 10th 2010 - 18:40 UTC

  China posts record foreign trade in November, but fears of a “rough” 2011

  

  Even when China's foreign trade hit a historic high in November, boosted by rising demand ahead of the Christmas shopping season, economists forecast a bumpy road next year.

• Friday, December 10th 2010 - 18:32 UTC

  IMF evaluates the spill-over impact of China’s growth for the rest of the world

  

  Economic data suggest that a 1 percentage point increase in China’s growth rate sustained over five years means an extra 0.4 percentage point of growth for the rest of the world, two experts at the International Monetary Fund said after studying figures for the past two decades.

• Friday, December 10th 2010 - 04:26 UTC

  Most Chileans have a “poor” and “unhealthy” diet shows nutritional report

  

  A study by the Catholic University of Chile and the Banmedical Foundation showed that 62% of Chileans were found to have a “poor diet” and 29% an “unhealthy” diet.

• Friday, December 10th 2010 - 02:21 UTC

  Brazil’s trade surplus down 40% in 2010 boosted by demand for imports

  

  Brazil’s trade surplus this year should reach 16 billion US dollars, which is 40% below 2009, according to Foreign Trade Secretary, Welter Barral. He added it was too early to talk about 2011 targets, given the world scenario and “at this stage we can’t say if we are going to run a (trade) deficit next year”.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 16:31 UTC

  Moody’s rates Uruguay just below ‘investment grade’ but next step 'distant'

  

  Moody's Investors risk Service raised the sovereign foreign currency credit rating for Mercosur member Uruguay by two notches to Ba1 from Ba3 on Wednesday, leaving it just below investment grade, citing improved debt and fiscal indicators.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 15:46 UTC

  UK Treasury increases bank levies, ‘fair contribution to the public coffers’

  

  The United Kingdom Treasury has raised the rate it will impose on banks under its new levy in 2011 and 2012. The Treasury said in draft legislation for the Finance Bill 2011 that the levy for 2011 will be 0.05% of total liabilities rather than the 0.04% announced in June. The levy for 2012 will rise to 0.075% instead of the previously proposed plan levy of 0.07%.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 15:34 UTC

  Bank of England decision on further liquidity injection expected for February

  

  The Bank of England’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted Thursday to hold the base interest rate at its record low of 0.5%. As expected, the Bank did not extend its £200 billion program of quantitative easing and is not expected to make a decision on whether to follow the US Federal reserve with a second bout of economy boosting bond-buying – or QE2 – until February.

• Thursday, December 9th 2010 - 07:24 UTC

  Uruguay, Mexico and Chile have the most numerous middle-class in Latam

  

  According to the 2011 Latin American Economic Outlook report released on Dec. 3 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Chile has the third highest percentage of middle-class citizens in Latin America.