Economy

• Wednesday, January 4th 2023 - 12:41 UTC

  Brazil ended 2022 with a US$ 62bn surplus and overall trade turnover plus US$ 600bn

  

  Brazil's trade balance closed the year 2022 at a record surplus of US$ 62.3 billion. Compared with the previous year, when the positive balance totaled US$ 61.4 billion, there was an increase of 1.5%.

• Wednesday, January 4th 2023 - 10:11 UTC

  Debt swap brings relief to Argentina's coffers

  

  The Argentine government has successfully undertaken a debt swap in local pesos worth about US$ 16.813 billion, thus extending large maturities scheduled for the first quarter of the year, it was announced.

• Tuesday, January 3rd 2023 - 23:02 UTC

  Not bananas: shrimp now Ecuador's second-most-exported product

  

  After a steady growth since 2018, shrimp has taken over as Ecuador's second-most exported item behind oil, thus toppling bananas from a notch they had held for quite a while, it was reported in Quito.

• Tuesday, January 3rd 2023 - 10:55 UTC

  Lula's first day if office, meeting Latin American leaders and a selloff in Petrobras shares

  

  As the Brazilian president Lula da Silva settled in his first day in office in the Planalto Palace, Latin American leaders met with the inaugurated president, who faced his first financial challenge, stocks had fallen more than 3%, led by a selloff of shares in state-run oil company Petrobras.

• Tuesday, January 3rd 2023 - 10:19 UTC

  This year will be tougher than 2022, IMF's Georgieva forecasts

  

  With the world's three major economies -the United States, the European Union, and China- slowing down simultaneously, 2023 will be “tougher than the year we left behind,” International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said during an interview with CBS. She also heralded in Washington that “a third of the world economy will be affected by a recession.”

• Tuesday, January 3rd 2023 - 10:13 UTC

  Complicated 2023 for the Chilean economy as copper prices slide and political stability is fragile

  

  In early December Chile's central bank said the country's economy was set to contract between 1.75% and 0.75% in 2023, however in 2022 GDP is seen rising 2,4%, with a formidable takeoff in the first half of last year.

• Tuesday, January 3rd 2023 - 10:04 UTC

  Argentine President highlights Brazil's return to international forums

  

  Argentine President Alberto Fernández Monday celebrated Brazil's “return” to all international forums and announced that “we have clearly decided to put the link between Argentina and Brazil back on track with full force,” following his meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva.

• Tuesday, January 3rd 2023 - 09:59 UTC

  Brazil: US dollar goes up on Lula's first working day

  

  Brazilian markets plummeted Monday during President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva's first working day in office following his inauguration speech and his first measures as head of state.

• Tuesday, January 3rd 2023 - 09:54 UTC

  New FM pledges to restore Brazil's diplomacy

  

  Newly-appointed Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira promised to rebuild Brazilian diplomacy to bring South America's largest country back to the “great stage of international relations.”

• Friday, December 30th 2022 - 10:51 UTC

  Uruguay, a failed Mercosur summit and China's long shadow

  

  Presidential summit meetings of the Mercosur alliance were usually sedate comfortable affairs until Uruguay decided to “open up to the world” under its pro-business President Luis Lacalle Pou.