Economy

• Monday, July 20th 2009 - 13:32 UTC

  Argentina’s trade surplus in six months jumps 91.7%; imports down 38%

  

  Argentina’s trade surplus jumped 91.7%, equivalent to 9.8 billion US dollars in the first half of this year compared to the same period a year ago, according to the latest release from the country’s statistics office, Indec.

• Monday, July 20th 2009 - 12:51 UTC

  Argentina planning to remove bonds adjusted to inflation

  

  Argentina will seek to remove from the bonds market nearly 40% of its sovereign debt and meet all its financial obligations, Economy Minister Amado Boudou was quoted by a Buenos Aires daily on Sunday.

• Saturday, July 18th 2009 - 15:15 UTC

  Brazilian economy giving signs the worst of the recession is over

  

  Brazil’s currency Real had its biggest weekly gain in almost two months on optimism the worst of the global recession is over. The Real climbed 3.6% this week, the most since the period ended May 22 rising 0.3% to 1.9261 per US dollar on Friday. So far this year the Real has strengthened 20%.

• Saturday, July 18th 2009 - 15:11 UTC

  Argentina’s economy worst monthly performance in seven years

  

  Argentina’s economy had its worth monthly performance in almost seven years in May amid slumping industrial production and construction. Economic activity was unchanged in May from a year earlier, the first time the government hasn’t recorded growth since November 2002. The economy rose 0.1% in May from April, according to the national statistics agency, Indec.

• Saturday, July 18th 2009 - 14:47 UTC

  White House defends stimulus plan in spite of soaring unemployment

  

  United States President Barack Obama's 787 billion US dollars stimulus package is working, top White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers insisted on Friday. And although unemployment is a “major area of concern”, Mr Summers said rising joblessness does not prove that the stimulus “is falling short”.

• Friday, July 17th 2009 - 11:13 UTC

  Latinamerica food prices remain 25% higher than two years ago says FAO

  

  Domestic food prices in developing countries, particularly Latinamerica remain high despite a sharp decline in international prices and overall good cereal harvests, FAO warned on Thursday in its latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation report.

• Friday, July 17th 2009 - 11:08 UTC

  Roubini proposes another stimulus plan to contain US unemployment

  

  New York University professor Nouriel Roubini, one of the few economists who accurately predicted the magnitude of the financial crisis, reiterated on Thursday that the worst of the turmoil has passed. But also emphasized the US will need a second fiscal stimulus, possibly by the end of this year to face two digits unemployment.

• Friday, July 17th 2009 - 05:37 UTC

  Developed countries trade falls but at a more moderate rate

  

  Trade in developed countries continued to fall in the first three months of this year but the rate of decline moderated, the OECD said this week.

• Thursday, July 16th 2009 - 15:43 UTC

  World Bank has 17 billion US dollars to loan out in Latinamerica

  

  The World Bank could lend up to 17 billion US dollars to Latinamerican countries in the fiscal year that began this month, the organization’s vice-president for Latinamerica said on Wednesday.

• Thursday, July 16th 2009 - 15:24 UTC

  GM Brazil to invest a billion US dollars in two new models for Mercosur

  

  General Motors announced Wednesday it will invest a billion US dollars to develop two new car models in Brazil. GM Brazil and Mercosur operations president said it was the corporation’s biggest investment since the onset of the global financial crisis.