Economy

• Monday, December 7th 2009 - 23:41 UTC

  Chile, gateway for illegal phony name brands products mainly from China

  

  Phony name brand products produced in China are increasingly a headache for Chile’s customs and police authorities.

• Monday, December 7th 2009 - 11:03 UTC

  Britain planning windfall tax on bankers’ bonuses

  

  British Chancellor Alistair Darling has left the door open to a windfall tax on bankers' bonuses amid reports that the move could be central to this week's Pre-Budget Report. Darling warned the better-off that they would have to pay more towards the cost of the economic recovery but sidestepped questions about the prospect of a temporary levy targeted at British-based banks.

• Saturday, December 5th 2009 - 03:37 UTC

  November inflation in Uruguay remains unchanged: annual target 5.9%

  

  Uruguayan consumer prices in November remained virtually unchanged with a 0.06% increase over October, having accumulated in the last twelve months 6.39% and 5.41% in the eleven months of 2009, according to the latest data released by the Statistics Office.

• Saturday, December 5th 2009 - 02:55 UTC

  Brewing rift between UK and France over financial regulation

  

  Talks scheduled to take place on Friday between UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have been cancelled. They may have helped to clear the air after President Sarkozy said the UK was the “big loser” when a Frenchman got the job as EU financial regulator.

• Saturday, December 5th 2009 - 02:38 UTC

  Scrappage scheme boosted new car sales in United Kingdom

  

  New car sales in the United Kingdom soared last month as consumers took advantage of the government's car scrappage scheme. A total of 158,082 new vehicles were registered in November 2009, a huge 57.6% increase on the November 2008 figure, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said.

• Saturday, December 5th 2009 - 02:36 UTC

  US unemployment in October remains above 10%: mixed reactions

  

  The US unemployment rate fell in November to 10% from 10.2% in October, Labour Department figures show. Employers in November cut the lowest number of jobs since the recession began in December 2007.

• Saturday, December 5th 2009 - 02:33 UTC

  European Central Bank begins withdrawing stimuli liquidity

  

  The European Central Bank (ECB) is to start withdrawing some of its special measures to support the economy. The bank is withdrawing some of its cheap short-term loans designed to boost the amount of money available in the markets and encourage bank lending.

• Friday, December 4th 2009 - 08:11 UTC

  Krugman praise and warnings about Brazilian economy excessive optimism

  

  Brazil has had a better performance than other countries during the current financial slowdown but it has become necessary “to closely follow so much optimism”, said Economics Nobel Prize Paul Krugman during a conference in Sao Paulo.

• Friday, December 4th 2009 - 08:04 UTC

  Iran trebled trade with Latinamerica in 2008 reaching 2.9 billion USD

  

  Iran has trebled trade with Latinamerica and Argentina has become its second partner in the region (replacing Mexico) according to Latin Business Chronicle based on data form the International Monetary Fund.

• Friday, December 4th 2009 - 05:06 UTC

  UK government warns bankers “to come back into the real world”

  

  A British government minister has told bankers “to come back into the real world” after Royal Bank of Scotland directors threatened to resign over bonuses. City Minister Lord Myners said it was unrealistic that bankers should expect to be paid million pound bonuses.