Economy

• Thursday, November 12th 2009 - 10:49 UTC

  China’s strong economic data fuel annual growth prospect of 8%

  

  The latest economic data from China suggests that industrial production grew year on year at a level faster than expected. Retail sales also rose by more than analysts had predicted, while consumer prices continued to fall.

• Thursday, November 12th 2009 - 10:42 UTC

  Three candidates to challenge US dollar as dominant reserve currency

  

  A new report from researchers at the International Monetary Fund sees at least three candidates that could eventually challenge the US dollar's role as the world's dominant reserve currency: the Euro, the Yen and the Chinese Yuan.

• Thursday, November 12th 2009 - 10:30 UTC

  Argentine church calls government to improve “social cohesion and bring peace”

  

  The Argentine Catholic Church called Wednesday on the government to improve “social cohesion and bring peace” to Argentines. At a conference headed by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to mark the 25th anniversary of a peace treaty between Argentina and Chile mediated by Pope John Paul II, the cardinal claimed the government “has the obligation to resolve all its controversies by the use of peaceful methods.”

• Thursday, November 12th 2009 - 09:29 UTC

  Argentine government monthly report: “signs of slow recovery”

  

  Argentina’s cabinet chief Aníbal Fernández reported there were signs of “a slow recovery” in the economy, during his monthly address to the Congress. “The usual soothsayers were wrong in their predictions,” he said, claiming that GDP fell less abruptly in Argentina than in Peru, Chile or even Brazil.

• Thursday, November 12th 2009 - 09:25 UTC

  US dollar role as reserve currency “intact” but Yuan becoming an alternative

  

  World Bank President Robert Zoellick said that the dollar's role as a reserve currency is intact, but the United States cannot take it for granted and needs to tackle its huge fiscal deficit.

• Wednesday, November 11th 2009 - 11:23 UTC

  Argentina Seeks to Resolve Defaulted Debt Issues, While “Vulture Funds” Are Determined to Undermine

  The Argentine government recently announced a plan to offer a debt swap to investors still holding US$20 billion (plus interest) in unpaid bonds from the country’s 2001 debt default.

• Wednesday, November 11th 2009 - 11:20 UTC

  UK risks loosing AAA sovereign credit rating because of budget deficit

  

  The United Kingdom is the developed nation most at risk of losing its AAA sovereign credit rating because of the budget deficit and virtually no margin left in the event of another downturn, Fitch warned Tuesday.

• Wednesday, November 11th 2009 - 11:07 UTC

  Lloyds Group announced more jobs cuts: 5.000 positions in 2010

  

  Lloyds Banking Group is to axe thousands of jobs next year in a fresh wave of cuts under plans to reduce costs, sources have said. Up to 5,000 positions are expected to be cut in the UK in 2010, on top of thousands already slashed this year.

• Wednesday, November 11th 2009 - 11:01 UTC

  Shoplifting by affluent shoppers hit the recession soars in the UK

  

  United Kingdom affluent shoppers hit by the recession are fuelling a shoplifting crime-wave, according to research. Middle-class people reluctant to give up luxuries they can no longer afford are behind thefts of expensive foods, alcohol and cosmetics, the Centre for Retail Research data claimed.

• Monday, November 9th 2009 - 12:54 UTC

  Amorim and Taiana meet to address “trade difficulties”

  

  Brazilian Foreign Affairs minister Celso Amorim will receive Monday in Rio do Janeiro his Argentine counterpart Jorge Taiana to discuss several issues of the “bilateral agenda” including, according to Argentine diplomatic sources the ongoing “trade differences”.