Economy

• Friday, January 8th 2010 - 06:48 UTC

  Latinamerica’s 2009 trade contracts 24% in value, the worst since 1973

  

  Latinamerica and Caribbean exports plunged 24% in value last year compared to 2008 because of the international crisis, according to the latest estimates from the United Nations Economic Commission for Latinamerica and the Caribbean, Cepal, released Thursday in Santiago de Chile.

• Friday, January 8th 2010 - 06:44 UTC

  New Japan Finance minister wants weaker Yen to help recover economy

  

  Japan's newly appointed finance minister Naoto Kan has called for a weaker yen in order to aid the recovery of the Japanese economy. Speaking the day after his appointment, Mr Kan said it would be “nice” to see the currency weaken.

• Friday, January 8th 2010 - 06:28 UTC

  Ample support for Bank of England’s decision to leave monetary policy unchanged

  

  The Bank of England announced Thursday its decision to hold the base rate of interest at its current historic low of 0.5%. The Monetary Policy Committee also opted against altering its quantitative easing programme, under which it has already created £200 billion to pump into the economy.

• Friday, January 8th 2010 - 05:59 UTC

  Chilean bottled wine sales soar 60% in November; UK and US main markets

  

  Confidence is high among Chilean winemakers with information released this week showing a 60% increase in exports for November 2009, compared to the same month in 2008.

• Thursday, January 7th 2010 - 17:17 UTC

  Political standoff in Argentina over sacking of Central Bank president

  

  A political standoff over the head of Argentina's central bank materialized Wednesday after the bank's president declined to support a plan to use 6.5 billion US dollars in reserves to pay debt.

• Thursday, January 7th 2010 - 17:13 UTC

  Argentina expects record corn yield and exceptional sorghum crop

  

  Argentina, the world’s second-largest corn exporter could increase output by more than 42% this year from initial estimates as spring rains boost yields to a record, the country’s main corn growers group said.

• Thursday, January 7th 2010 - 16:51 UTC

  Latest data show Chilean economy rebounding from recession

  

  Chile’s economic activity index, the IMACEC, rose a bigger-than-expected 3.1% in November from a year earlier, the central bank announced this week, the first monthly increase in a year. The market expected the economy of the world's top copper producer to expand by 2.5%, according to a median forecast from a Reuters’ survey.

• Wednesday, January 6th 2010 - 13:08 UTC

  Brazil consolidates position a world leader in meat markets

  

  Even when Brazilian meat and chicken exports are recovering at a slower pace than anticipated, representatives from the industry and market analysts anticipate that overseas sales should retake pre-crisis levels by the end of 2010, if not in price, in volume.

• Wednesday, January 6th 2010 - 11:20 UTC

  Brazil car sales grew 11% in 2009 and another 10% increase is forecasted for 2010

  

  Brazil’s new car sales could rise 10% this year as Latinamerica’s largest economy expands the most since 2007, the country’s dealership federation said on Tuesday. Sales in 2009 increased 11% to 3.14 million units.

• Wednesday, January 6th 2010 - 11:15 UTC

  Spanish unemployment at new records: 19.3% and 40% for the young

  

  Spanish unemployment rose to the highest in more than a decade in December, 19.3%, capping a year that saw the nation’s jobless rate soar to double the Euro- zone average. The number of people registering for unemployment benefits increased by 54,657, or 1.41 percentage points from November to 3.92 million.