Economy

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 17:49 UTC

  Rate hikes expected in Brazil and Chile as global commodity prices drive inflation

  

  Global commodity prices continue to be the main driver of inflation in both Brazil and Chile, according to the latest Latin America update report from Capital Economics.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 16:29 UTC

  Chile exports increase 30% in 2010, led by copper and lumber sales

  

  Chile achieved a record year for exports in 2010, according to a report by ProChile. Exports in 2010 were valued to be 69.6 billion US dollars, up nearly 30% from the 2009 figure, 53.7 billion USD.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 16:25 UTC

  Argentina recovers free of FMD status along the “border belt”

  

  Argentina recovered the status of free of foot and mouth disease with vaccination in the “high vigilance” area along the so called “border belt” which limits with Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 14:29 UTC

  China’s New Year takes off with higher interest rates, third time since October

  

  China's central bank said Tuesday it will increase key lending and deposit rates by a quarter percentage point, effective Wednesday. This is the third People’s Bank of China rise since last October, a move aimed at combating stubbornly high inflation.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 05:29 UTC

  Egypt attempts to put the economy back on movement

  

  The Egyptian government is struggling to finance itself as foreign investors pull out and the currency drops. It had to scale down a bond auction on Monday as state-owned banks failed to stump up enough cash.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 05:17 UTC

  Mujica calls on the ruling coalition “not to kill the golden eggs hen” of investment

  

  Uruguayan president Jose Mujica called on the ruling coalition to restrain public comments on wealth distribution or re-distribution underlining that the “golden eggs’ hen” is private investment so please “don’t kill the hen”.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 05:08 UTC

  Petrobras third largest oil company on market capitalization

  

  Based on market capitalization Brazilian government managed oil and gas company Petrobras ranked third worldwide according to the prestigious PFC Energy 50 list of the world's biggest energy companies.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 05:03 UTC

  Argentine industry warns: inflation is like a hard drug that creates “illusions and social tensions”

  

  Argentina’s Industrial Union’s vice president, and FIAT Argentina’s head Cristiano Ratazzi, warned Monday that “inflation is like a drug that creates illusions but also social tensions”.

• Tuesday, February 8th 2011 - 01:08 UTC

  EU top official says “this is the moment” for a trade agreement with Mercosur

  

  European Union Trade commissioner Karel de Gutch said Monday he strongly believes the EU will reach a trade agreement with Mercosur because “this is the moment” and both sides are committed to conclude negotiations positively.

• Monday, February 7th 2011 - 20:54 UTC

  Geithner implicitly endorses “capital controls” during Brazilian visit

  

  US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner reached out to Brazil by citing a shared concern - China - and endorsing Brazil's approach for dealing with global economic distortions.