Economy

• Saturday, March 27th 2010 - 03:20 UTC

  The Times and Sunday Times to begin charging for news on-line

  

  News Corp will charge readers for online versions of its UK Times and Sunday Times newspapers from June, becoming the first media firm to test consumers' appetite to pay for mass-market news online.

• Saturday, March 27th 2010 - 02:52 UTC

  WTO forecasts global trade will experience 9.5% record growth in 2010

  

  After the sharpest decline in more than 70 years, world trade is set to rebound, according to economists at the World Trade Organization.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 22:28 UTC

  US economy contracted 2.4% in 2009, in spite of strong 5.6% in fourth quarter

  

  The United States economy contracted 2.4% in 2009 according to the latest estimates from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis. Growth in 2008 was 0.4%.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 22:01 UTC

  Argentine top union leader back-peddles in inflation controversy

  

  “Inflation in a growing country is good” said Hugo Moyano Argentina’s leader of the powerful labour unions confederation, CGT, a day after having openly complained that “inflation in Argentina is a fact, and nobody can deny it’s a reality”.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 21:34 UTC

  Quake destroyed ports limit Chilean grape industry exports

  

  Chile’s fresh fruit business has been whip-lashed the past weeks by the 8.8 earthquake which struck February 27, at the height of the fresh fruit export season. Large shipments of table grapes - roughly four million cases - and other fruit had to be stored while authorities worked over time to get port facilities operating again.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 04:27 UTC

  Brazil ready to raise rates next April following strong rebound

  

  Brazil's central bank policy-makers said on Thursday they are ready to raise rates next month to curb inflation pressure as jobs data highlighted the strength of the country's economic rebound.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 04:23 UTC

  Kirchner key ally says that inflation in Argentina can’t be denied, “it’s reality”

  

  Argentina’s main union leader and a close political ally of President Cristina Kirchner, Hugo Moyano said that “inflation in Argentina is a fact, and nobody can deny it’s a reality”. His words follow previous statement from Economy minister Amado Boudou who admitted “prices’ tension but “not necessarily inflation”

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 04:18 UTC

  Brazil/Argentina hold new round of talks to facilitate bilateral trade

  

  Mercosur main country members, Argentina and Brazil begun on Thursday a two-day round of bilateral trade talks in Brazil to discuss basically whether to continue or not with the non-automatic licenses both countries hold.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 01:53 UTC

  Euro zone agrees € 22 billion ‘safety net’ for Greece including the IMF

  

  Sixteen Euro zone countries have backed a financing plan to help debt-laden Greece, which will include IMF money. The safety net would total up to 22 billion Euros and would apply only if market lending to Greece dried up.

• Friday, March 26th 2010 - 00:59 UTC

  Chilean government announces biggest fuel price hike in months

  

  Chile’s government has decided to “un-freeze” the increase of the gasoline prices considering that the value of both oil and the US dollar is growing all around the world.
  By law, on March 25 the transitory price reduction to the specific oil tax must come to an end. The decree was passed last year to help the local economy given the financial crisis that affected many countries.