Economy

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 13:16 UTC

  Unemployment in Punta Arenas remains the lowest in Chile: 4.6%

  

  Magallanes in the extreme south of Chile remains as the region with the lowest unemployment in the country, 4.4% according to the latest release from the regional branch of the Statistics Office.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:49 UTC

  China confirms stimulus and credit policies to prop economy

  

  Chinese top leaders reaffirmed on Tuesday the country’s stimulus program and easy credit policy following one of the worst monthly performances of the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets fearing recovery efforts could be loosing steam.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:41 UTC

  Euro zone record in July: 15.1 million jobless

  

  Unemployment in the 16-member Euro zone hit a 10-year high in July, data released Tuesday showed. EU statistics office Eurostat said that another 167,000 people were unemployed in the Euro zone during July, pushing the jobless rate up to 9.5% from 9.4% in June which takes the total to 15.1 million people.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:35 UTC

  IATA: air transport sector a “disaster”; airlines set to loose 9 billion USD

  

  ”The global situation of the air transport sector is a disaster” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s Director General and CEO in a speech to JURCA, the association of airlines operating in Argentina.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:16 UTC

  Penny-saving Brits in July pay back more than they borrow

  

  The amount of debt Britons owe fell for the first time since records began during July, figures show. People repaid £635 million more than they borrowed during the month, reducing outstanding lending to £1.456 trillion.

• Wednesday, September 2nd 2009 - 07:09 UTC

  Scrappage program boosts Ford, Toyota and Honda sales in the US

  

  US car sales responded positively to the government's 3 billion US dollars “Cash for Clunkers” program, led by a 17% sales jump at Ford and higher sales from Japan auto makers Toyota and Honda. However General Motors, Chrysler and Nissan still reported lower sales.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 12:28 UTC

  Chile launches trucks’ scrappage plan to boost economy and fight pollution

  

  The Chilean government will subsidize the purchase of more fuel-efficient trucks for citizens through a program set to start later this year. The program, called “Cambia tu Camión,” or “Change your Truck,” will offer a bonus of 4, 8 or 12 million pesos (7.200, 14.500 or 21.700 US dollars respectively), toward the purchase of a new, more fuel efficient car, with the trade-in of a truck over 25 years old.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 12:25 UTC

  Black Monday in China’s impacts on world markets

  

  Chinese equities Monday plunged 6.74% to a three-month low as investors showed concern a slowdown in bank lending would erode economic growth, reported the Xinhua news agency. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 192.94 points to finish at 2,667.75. This was the largest daily drop for the key Shanghai index since June last year.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 05:47 UTC

  WTO confirms ruling favouring Brazil in cotton dispute with US

  

  United States faces annual trade sanctions of about 295 million US dollars for failing to scrap illegal subsidies paid to its cotton growers. However the punishment, imposed by the World Trade Organization (WTO), is far less than the 4 billion USD that Brazil, which brought the case, had wanted.

• Tuesday, September 1st 2009 - 01:32 UTC

  Bank failures in United States jump to 84 in eight months

  

  The number of bank failures in the United States reached 84 in the first four months of this year, following the collapse of three entities in California, Minnesota and Maryland, according to the latest report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, FIDC