Economy

• Thursday, March 17th 2011 - 00:51 UTC

  Hours before Obama arrives, Brazil reaffirms its commitment is with Mercosur

  

  When US president Barack Omaba lands in Brazil next Saturday the emphasis of the visit will be on deepening economic relations and potential business opportunities, but Brazil has made it plain clear that any free trade talks with the United States can only take place in the framework of Mercosur.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 23:28 UTC

  UK unemployment hits 17-year high: 2.5 million Brits out of a job

  

  The number of unemployed in the UK has hit a 17-year high of more than 2.5 million and pushed the unemployment rate to 8%, official data showed Wednesday.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 14:55 UTC

  Economists downgrade Brazilian 2011 growth to 4.1%; government insists 5%

  

  The Brazilian government said GDP is expected to grow by more than 5% a year through 2014. The Finance Ministry says in a release argued that increased long term investments by the private sector will be fundamental in achieving the projected growth.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 14:38 UTC

  MEP warns on dangers to Scotland of ‘cheap meat’ imports from Mercosur

  

  European Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos has been warned of the dangers facing Scotland if the EU opens its markets to large quantities of ‘cheap meat’ imports from Mercosur, reports the Farmers’ Guardían.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 05:10 UTC

  February inflation in Argentina, 0.7%; private estimates double that percentage

  

  Inflation in Argentina advanced 0.7% in February over the previous month pushed mainly by increases in the clothing sector (2.2%) and leisure activities (3.5%), according to the official Indec National Statistics Bureau. During the first two months of the year, the consumer prices index accumulated 1.5%.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 03:05 UTC

  Japanese stocks rebound; central bank injects 326 billion USD in three days

  

  Japanese stocks rebounded Wednesday as concerns over the long-term impact of Friday's earthquake and tsunami on Japan's economy ease.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 01:32 UTC

  ‘Frozen’ Japanese economy expected to rebound positively in third quarter

  

  Friday's earthquake and tsunami have left parts of Japan's economy “frozen”, but analysts forecast that it will bounce back later this year. Some of the country's leading producers, including the world's biggest carmaker, Toyota, have closed all of their plants in the country.

• Wednesday, March 16th 2011 - 00:41 UTC

  Fed leaves rates unchanged with the US economy on a ‘firmer footing’ recovery

  

  Arguing that the US economic recovery is on a firmer footing, and overall conditions in the labour market appear to be improving gradually, the Federal Reserve on Tuesday left interest rates unchanged at a record low of zero to 0.25% since December 2008.

• Tuesday, March 15th 2011 - 23:49 UTC

  Mercosur claims EU is willing to continue negotiations, but requests more time

  

  Mercosur was prepared to listen to proposals on liberalizing trade, but the European Union requested more time and continue working with the negotiations, according to Mercosur delegates attending the trade talks with EU in Brussels.

• Tuesday, March 15th 2011 - 23:47 UTC

  Cuba devalues currency 8% to boost exports and imports substitution process

  

  Cuba devalued its convertible peso by 8% Monday to the level of parity with the US dollar as part of efforts to boost the island's flagging economy, the central bank said. Use of the convertible peso is limited to tourists and other foreigners, for Cubans who receive remittances from abroad and for export activity