Economy

• Saturday, May 29th 2010 - 01:35 UTC

  IMF raises global economic growth forecast to 4.25% in 2010

  

  The IMF sees global economic growth of 4.25% this year and next, “faster than previously expected,” the head of the multilateral lender said on Friday.

• Friday, May 28th 2010 - 04:53 UTC

  Brazil suggests Yuan and Real be included as IMF conversion currencies

  

  Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega suggested the International Monetary Fund (IMF) include China's Yuan and Brazil's Real as conversion currencies for Special Drawing Rights (SDR) of the institution.

• Friday, May 28th 2010 - 04:51 UTC

  Argentina wins appeal on damage award to thousands of defaulted bond holders

  

  US federal appeals court threw out a 2.24 billion US dollars damage award to tens of thousands of investors who held defaulted Argentine sovereign bonds, saying a lower court erred in calculating an “inflated” sum.

• Friday, May 28th 2010 - 04:48 UTC

  Brazil confident it can bring inflation on target and confront EU slowdown

  

  Brazil’s central bank chief Henrique Meirelles said he’s “confident” inflation will meet the target because the country has already started raising interest rates. He also admitted that Brazil is seeing “some decline” in exports to Europe as the region’s indebted nations struggle to cut budget deficits.

• Friday, May 28th 2010 - 04:44 UTC

  Venezuelan economy contracts 5.8% in first quarter over a year ago

  

  Venezuela’s economy fell deeper into recession in the first three months of the year as electricity rationing conditioned manufacturing and investment dried up because of government takeovers.

• Friday, May 28th 2010 - 04:36 UTC

  World markets and Euro boosted by China’s supportive comments

  

  World stock markets soared strongly on Thursday, boosted by supportive comments from China on the strength of the Euro. The agency that manages the country's huge foreign assets said it was not rethinking its holdings in Euros.

• Friday, May 28th 2010 - 04:35 UTC

  Spain’s austerity package narrowly approved by one vote

  

  There has been temporary relief for Spain’s governing Socialists as parliament narrowly approved the 15 billion Euro austerity package: the motion was passed by only one vote, 169 to 168.

• Thursday, May 27th 2010 - 09:11 UTC

  Argentina’s delay in dispatching imports is irritating trade partners

  

  Since the controversial Argentine Interior Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno announced in an April 23 letter that he will examine overseas purchases to consider the competitiveness of the national market, products worth millions of dollars have been delayed at Argentina’s borders and ports.

• Thursday, May 27th 2010 - 09:09 UTC

  Germany preparing for “orderly state insolvency” in support of the Euro

  

  Germany's push for an orderly insolvency process for indebted Euro zone states suggests Berlin is assuming the worst: that one of its peers -- most likely Greece -- will default on its debt repayments.

• Thursday, May 27th 2010 - 09:01 UTC

  Brazil’s strong growth has budget primary surplus above target

  

  The Brazilian central government posted in April its largest monthly primary budget surplus in two years on the back of solid economic growth, reversing two months of negative results, the Treasury said on Wednesday.