Uruguay meat exports totalled 1.3 billion US dollars until November 8, a 55% value increase over the same period a year ago, according to the latest statistics from the country's Meat Institute.
China's industrial output hit a seven year low as the global economic slowdown continues to batter the world's fourth largest economy eroding demand for Chinese exports.
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said Saturday that his government is invoking a 30-day grace period and has until December 15 to decide if it will make a 30.6 million USD interest payment on 2012 bonds due Saturday.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown claimed Saturday that world leaders had backed his blueprint for combating the global slowdown. He said they had agreed to fiscal measures to stimulate the economy - likely to mean increased government spending and cuts in taxes.
Global leaders at the G20 financial summit in Washington have pledged to work together to restore global growth. They said they were determined to work together to achieve needed reforms in the world's financial systems.
For the fourth week running the US dollar appreciated in Uruguay's money markets having ended last Friday 0.50% higher against the Uruguayan Peso, mainly forced by strong domestic demand and a similar evolution of the greenback in Brazil.
The global financial crunch, rapidly becoming a threatening full fledged international recession will be addressed Monday in Montevideo, Uruguay by Mercosur leaders.
Billionaire investor George Soros offered a gloomy outlook for the US economy, stating that a depression is possible. Testifying at a US Lower House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on Thursday, Soros predicted that not only will the US muddle through a deep recession, but that hedge funds will be decimated by the current financial crisis.
Japan will propose at the upcoming Group of 20 Washington summit the doubling of the current 340 billion dollars provided to the International Monetary Fund to help strengthen its capacity to address financial crises and is willing to pledge 100 billion US dollars of its reserves, according to government sources in Tokyo.
US President George W Bush has admitted the financial system needs reforming, but insists the credit crunch was not a failure of the free-market system. Speaking Thursday in New York, Mr Bush said that while financial markets did need some new regulation and more transparency, free trade should not be restricted.