Economy

• Wednesday, February 17th 2010 - 01:18 UTC

  Return of 17.5% VAT in January pushes UK inflation to an annual 3.5%

  

  United Kingdom price rises caused by the return of 17.5% VAT in January saw inflation reach 3.5%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rose to 3.5% last month from 2.9% in December as goods and services became more expensive.

• Tuesday, February 16th 2010 - 19:56 UTC

  Mercosur/EU agreement anticipated for next May at Madrid summit

  

  Mercosur and the European Union could be signing a cooperation and free trade agreement, although not in its final version, next May during the two continents summit in Madrid, according to the Brazilian Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim

• Tuesday, February 16th 2010 - 02:20 UTC

  Darling defends cautious approach to tackling budget deficit

  

  Chancellor Alistair Darling has defended his approach to tackling the UK's budget deficit. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Darling said he disagreed with economists who had called for more aggressive action to close the deficit.

• Tuesday, February 16th 2010 - 02:17 UTC

  Eurostat orders Greece to disclose details of currency swaps

  

  European Union regulators ordered Greece to disclose details of currency swaps after an inquiry by the country’s Finance Ministry uncovered a series of agreements with banks that it may have used to conceal mounting debts.

• Tuesday, February 16th 2010 - 02:10 UTC

  Think tank praises UK for not having joined the Euro

  

  Britain's unemployment rate would be twice as high and the recession would have been even deeper if we had joined the euro, a think tank has claimed.

• Tuesday, February 16th 2010 - 02:04 UTC

  Euro zone ministers insist Greece must consolidate public finances

  

  Greece could unveil more cost-cutting proposals if its current efforts do not work fast enough, the head of the 16-nation Euro-zone has said. Jean-Claude Juncker said Greece had agreed to outline additional measures in March if necessary.
  His comments came following a meeting of Euro-zone finance ministers.

• Monday, February 15th 2010 - 20:21 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner willing to discuss with opposition about central bank reserves

  

  The administration of Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said it is willing to discuss with the opposition the Bicentennial Fund project which aims to service public debt with reserves from the Central Bank and which triggered a three branches confrontation that ended in the resignation of the bank’s president Martin Perez Redrado.

• Monday, February 15th 2010 - 06:33 UTC

  Chilean mint house chops heads for circulating 50-pesos “collection” coins

  

  Heads are rolling at the Chilean mint after a coin went into circulation which mangled the country's name. The 50-peso coins - worth about 6p - were issued in 2008, but no-one noticed they read “Chiie” rather than “Chile” until late last year.

• Monday, February 15th 2010 - 06:19 UTC

  Argentine government lacks Senate support to tap Central bank reserves

  

  Argentina’s government lacks the support needed in the Senate to approve President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s plan to tap 6.6 billion US dollars in Central Bank reserves to pay sovereign debt due this year, ruling party Senator Miguel Pichetto admitted on Sunday.

• Monday, February 15th 2010 - 06:02 UTC

  Wall Street helped Greece to hide mounting debts, claims The New York Times

  

  Wall Street tactics have worsened the financial crisis shaking Greece and undermining the Euro by enabling European governments to hide their mounting debts, The New York Times reported Sunday.