United States consumer prices fell in March and recorded their first annual drop in more than half a century, according to official figures from the Labour Department. The consumer price index fell 0.1% last month after energy prices declined. In February prices had risen 0.4%.
The World Bank expects to loan some 14 billion US dollars to Latinamerica this fiscal year, or almost three times what it lent in 2008, the bank's Vice-President for Latinamerica and the Caribbean, Pamela Cox told a conference call with reporters.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has written to the UK’s offshore tax havens – including Gibraltar – warning them to meet international transparency standards within six months or face sanctions, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.
Transits of the Panama Canal slipped 1.4% in the Canal’s second fiscal quarter, according to the Panama Canal Authority (PCA). A total of 3,914 ships passed through the Canal from January through March.
Brazil’s Congress Lower House approved on Tuesday night approved legislation making an existing Sovereign Wealth Fund into a permanent fixture. The Chamber of Deputies voted 274-102 to approve a government bill making the fund permanent and approving an initial total for it of 14.2 billion Brazilian Reales, approximately 6.5 billion US dollars.
Two reliable private consultants and advisors confirmed that the Argentine economy has gone through two consecutive negative quarters, thus in recession. However former president Nestor Kirchner denies any recession and insists that the Argentine economy keeps expanding.
Ecuador President Rafael Correa said that his country’s economic growth in 2008, which according to the latest estimates was 6.5%, was among Latin America’s highest despite the international financial crisis -- and despite defaulting on a portion of the nation's international debt.
Job losses during the current British recession have impacted most on large cities, mainly Birmingham, outside London, according to research. The biggest jump in total numbers of people claiming unemployment benefit were found in the North, West Midlands, Scotland, and areas linked with traditional manufacturing and heavy industry, a study by The Work Foundation found.
China's economy is showing some signs of recovery from the global financial crisis, the country's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has said. The economy is showing positive changes but still faces very big difficulties, he said on the sidelines of Thailand's cancelled Asean summit.
Brazilian economists forecast that Latinamerica’s biggest economy will fall into the worst recession since 1992 as companies scale back output amid the first global recession since World War II.