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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
China's foreign exchange reserves reached 2.13 trillion US dollars by the end of June 2009, up 17.84% year-on-year, according to the latest release from the People’s Bank of China, PBOC.
The Latinamerican and Caribbean economy is forecasted to contract 1.9% this year following six years of sustained growth, but is expected to expand 3.1% in 2010, according to the latest estimates released Wednesday by the United Nations Latinamerican and Caribbean Economic Commission, Cepal in Santiago de Chile.
Unemployment in the United Kingdom has soared to truly horrendous levels after a record 281,000 people joined the growing jobless ranks, taking the total to 2.38 million, the worst since 1995.
Finance Minister Guido Mantega said Tuesday that Brazil is not facing fiscal troubles and anti-cyclic policies are showing satisfactory results. His statement was supported by the latest release on retail sales, for May, which was higher than expected.
The Chilean sheep farming industry is embarking on a million dollar master plan to boost the national sheep population and double lamb exports by 2010.