Economy

• Thursday, May 21st 2009 - 11:41 UTC

  Foreign direct investment to Latam reached 139 billion USD in 2008

  

  Direct foreign investments in Latinamerica and the Caribbean are showing a significant resistance to the global crisis and in 2008 reached a record 139 billion US dollars, up 9.4% from the previous year according the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

• Thursday, May 21st 2009 - 11:37 UTC

  Global steel output down by 23.6% in April

  

  Global steel output fell by 23.6% in April to 89-million tons, the World Steel Association said on Wednesday.

• Thursday, May 21st 2009 - 11:24 UTC

  Mexican economy contracts 8.2% in first quarter

  

  Mexico’s economy shrank a record 8.2% in the first quarter, --the most since the 1995 Tequila Crisis--, battered by the global financial crisis and the outbreak of swine flu. Mexican Finance minister Agustin Carstens admitted GDP may shrink as much as 5.5% this year.

• Thursday, May 21st 2009 - 11:14 UTC

  Oil-export fuelled Venezuela feeling the shortage of hard currency

  

  Venezuela's economy grew at its slowest rate in five years during the first quarter, 0.3% (year to year) and the slowest since 2003 reported the Central Bank. Compared with the previous quarter the contraction was 16.4%.

• Thursday, May 21st 2009 - 11:12 UTC

  US Congress strong message to Argentina on defaulted obligations

  

  American Task Force Argentina (ATFA), a coalition of more than 40 taxpayer, investor, educator, Latino and agriculture organizations, commended members of the United States House of Representatives for introducing legislation imposing stiff penalties on wealthy and middle-income nations that, like Argentina, refuse to honour obligations to US creditors.

• Thursday, May 21st 2009 - 10:51 UTC

  Investors flock to gold fearing inflation and financial uncertainty

  

  Fears of future inflation and ongoing financial uncertainty saw investors continue to flock to gold in the first quarter of 2009, with volumes up 38% in the first three months of the year. Total demand for gold in the first quarter rose to 1,016 tonnes, representing a 36% rise in value terms to 29.7 billion US dollars, with demand from Exchange Traded Funds and demand for gold and coins driving the rising demand, suggesting that buyers were buying for investment purposes.

• Wednesday, May 20th 2009 - 14:55 UTC

  Soy prices set to increase because of poor crops in South America

  

  World stocks of soybeans are set to decline steeply to a five year low of around 50 million tons at the end of the season (10 million tons less than a year ago), mainly because of smaller crops in the leading exporting countries of South America, according to Oil World.

• Wednesday, May 20th 2009 - 14:39 UTC

  Business climate in Latinamerica undergoes slight improvement

  

  The business climate in Latinamerica experienced a slight improvement in the last three months having jumped from 2.9 points in January to 3.6 in April, although it is still one of the worst levels in seven years, reported the Brazilian Foundation Getulio Vargas

• Wednesday, May 20th 2009 - 14:37 UTC

  Worst of global crisis over, but early recovery unlikely, says Krugman

  

  Nobel Prize laureate Paul Krugman said Tuesday in Korea the worst phase of the global economic crisis is over but massive lingering debts make any early recovery unlikely.
  “I share the optimism that the worst is maybe over” said Krugman in a speech to an international finance forum in Seoul.

• Wednesday, May 20th 2009 - 02:42 UTC

  UK annual consumer inflation down to 2.3% in April

  

  The British annual consumer prices inflation was 2.3% in the year to April, down from 2.9% in the year to March, falling closer to the 2% target set by the government which most commentators had been expecting as utility bills were cut to reflect falling oil prices.