Economy

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 04:24 UTC

  Positive sustained growth prospects for Latin America in 2010, forecasts IMF

  

  The Latin American economy could grow by as much as 5% this year, more strongly than previously expected (4%), driven by Brazil's vigorous expansion, according to a senior International Monetary Fund official.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 04:21 UTC

  Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain, the Euro and now Hungary: who’s next?

  

  The IMF and EU suspended a review of Hungary's funding program, set up in 2008 to save the country from financial meltdown, saying it must take tough action to meet targets for cutting its budget deficit.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 04:14 UTC

  China promises Germany’s Merkel support for the Euro

  

  Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, has said that China will continue to invest in European markets, despite the debt problems affecting many Euro zone countries. He was speaking in Beijing alongside the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. She described his pledge as an important signal that China has confidence in the Euro.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 02:45 UTC

  EU almost free of ‘mad-cow’ plans to soften 1996 regulations

  

  The nightmare of BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalitis – or Mad Cow Disease) is mercifully almost forgotten in the EU now. In total almost 200,000 cases of BSE were discovered in the EU. But there were only 67 cases last year and those were in very old animals probably infected many years ago.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 00:24 UTC

  Brazil to begin Mercosur talks with Dominican Republic

  

  Brazilian Foreign Trade Secretary Welber Barral flies Monday to Dominican Republic to promote bilateral and advance towards a road map for an agreement with Mercosur.

• Monday, July 19th 2010 - 00:15 UTC

  World production of rough rice affected by dry weather in Mekong River

  

  Global production of rough rice, the staple for half the world’s population, may be 6 million tons less than estimated earlier this year after prolonged dry weather in the Mekong River region hurt crops, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

• Saturday, July 17th 2010 - 06:43 UTC

  Buffett warns Obama US economy is only 40/50% back on its feet

  

  United States President Barack Obama received a sobering message from billionaire Warren Buffett when he asked for the investment guru's views about the economic recovery, according to an interview Obama gave NBC News on Thursday.

• Saturday, July 17th 2010 - 06:23 UTC

  Argentina proposes gradual elimination of Mercosur double charge common tariff

  

  Argentina proposed the gradual elimination of the Mercosur Common External Tariff, AEC, double charge and hopes the initiative will receive a first approval before Buenos Aires has to turn over the rotating chair of the trade group to Brazil next August.

• Saturday, July 17th 2010 - 06:19 UTC

  Toyota, Nissan plan to invest 1.2 billion USD to increase production in Latam

  

  Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. will invest a combined 1.2 billion US dollars to expand production in Latin America amid growing regional and export demand.

• Friday, July 16th 2010 - 19:41 UTC

  Colombia joins race to become energy independent by 2020

  

  Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol said it expects to produce 1.3 million barrels per day of “clean” oil equivalent by 2020 and that some 80 billion US dollars in investment will be needed to meet the target.