Economy

• Friday, August 21st 2009 - 13:16 UTC

  Brazil becomes Chile’s third largest trading partner

  

  Brazil has become Chile’s third largest trading partner, displacing Japan, according to recently released government trade figures. Total July trade between Chile and Brazil was US$547 million, compared to the US$446 million in trade between Chile and Japan during July.

• Friday, August 21st 2009 - 11:22 UTC

  Uruguay forecasted to fall 0.8% this year and expand 1.5% in 2010

  

  Uruguay is forecasted to contract 0.8% in 2009 and rebound 1.5% next year according to chief economist for South America from the Spanish banking group BBVA, Joaquín Vial

• Friday, August 21st 2009 - 11:04 UTC

  Argentine exports forecasted to drop 20%, but 2010 is a promising year

  

  The global recession will have an impact on Argentine exports which are forecasted to fall an estimated 20% this year to 55 billion US dollars, compared to last year. However since imports have also plummeted the trade surplus in July grew 35% (1.3 billion) totalling 11.2 billion US dollars in the first seven months of the year.

• Friday, August 21st 2009 - 11:00 UTC

  German surprise rebound confirmed by cautious Bundesbank

  

  German economic growth is likely to gain traction in the coming months, the nation's influential central bank, the Bundesbank, said Thursday after Europe's biggest economy unexpectedly climbed out of recession during the second quarter.

• Friday, August 21st 2009 - 10:49 UTC

  Mexican economy shrinks a record 10.3% in second quarter

  

  Mexico's economy plunged 10.3% in the second quarter its deepest contraction on record as shrinking exports forced factories to slash production and cut jobs and the tourism industry was knocked out by the A/H1N1 virus flu.

• Thursday, August 20th 2009 - 16:05 UTC

  Argentina and Brazil moving towards “financial integration”

  

  Argentina and Brazil signed Wednesday an agreement to swap domestic currencies for the equivalent of a total 1.8 billion US dollars, which could be used to increase international reserves. The accord was described as an important effort towards “financial integration” in the framework of Mercosur.

• Thursday, August 20th 2009 - 16:04 UTC

  Krugman anticipates strong Latam recovery, but behind Asia

  

  Economics Nobel Prize Paul Krugman warned Wednesday that global real recovery will take time and that he’d be surprised to see within that scenario an improvement in the labour market. However he was upbeat about Latinamerica which he anticipated will recover faster that developed countries, although behind Asia.

• Thursday, August 20th 2009 - 15:57 UTC

  Buenos Aires and Santiago among cheapest cities in the world

  

  Oslo, Zurich, Copenhagen, Geneva, Tokyo and New York are considered the world's most expensive cities based on a standardized basket of 122 goods and services from the UBS “Prices and Earnings” survey.

• Thursday, August 20th 2009 - 07:17 UTC

  Chile in recession: economy sinks 4.5% in the second quarter

  

  Chile’s economy shrank by 4.5% in the second quarter of this year, faring just slightly worse than the 4.4% GDP drop anticipated by economists, the Central Bank reported this week.

• Thursday, August 20th 2009 - 05:21 UTC

  Brazil, Chile, Peru and Colombia recovering from the global crisis

  

  Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru are in the process of economic recovery, while Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela are in a recessive phase according to a report released Wednesday and jointly drafted by Brazil’s Getulio Vargas Foundation and the University of Munich.