The United Kingdom Chancellor Alistair Darling has hit out at kamikaze bankers for damaging the British economy and said a shake-up to be unveiled this week would prevent a repeat.
Venezuela has taken formal control of its third largest bank, the previously Spanish-owned Banco de Venezuela. The first instalment of a 630 million US dollars price tag was made amid much ceremony in the capital Caracas, with nearly all the shares passing to the government.
United States bank regulators closed seven institutions this week including six banks in Illinois controlled by one family and a small bank in Dallas, bringing the total number of US bank failures to 52 so far this year. (This compares with 25 in 2008 and 3 in 2007).
Brazil may file a complaint at the World Trade Organization against Argentina because of its delays in issuing import licenses for Brazilian goods according to Foreign Trade Chamber Secretary Lyntha Spindola.
World Bank group president Robert B. Zoellick underlined that Latinamerican largest countries are better prepared to face the world crisis, based on strong budgets and primary surpluses and the development of effective social policies.
The number of jobs lost in the US last month came in at 467,000, which was much more than had been expected. The jobless rate rose to 9.5% in June, from 9.4% in May, as the US economy continued to struggle.
The European Central Bank's, ECB, kept its key rate unchanged at 1% for another month following their regular meeting. But at a news conference on Thursday ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet said he was pleased with the first results of the “liquidity infusion” to the banking system.
The unemployment rate in the 16-nation Euro zone jumped to 9.5% in May, the highest in 10 years, as the economies in the region continued to grapple with deepening recession. For the 16 countries sharing the common currency Euro, the jobless rate is the highest since May 1999.
Brazil's government set its inflation target for 2011 at 4.5%, seeing no evidence of significant inflationary pressures going forward. May consumer price inflation or IPCA, was 0.47%, and 5.2% in the last twelve months and is expected to have slowed down further during June.
General Motors Brazil car sales broke a record in June thanks to continued government tax breaks for auto makers, the company said Wednesday. The company said sales soared to 55.629 vehicles last month, the highest monthly sales volume in the company's 84-year history in Brazil.