Economy

• Thursday, July 23rd 2009 - 14:44 UTC

  Record fine on world largest brewer: 176 million USD

  

  Brazil's antitrust regulator imposed a record fine of 352 million Reais (approximately 176 million US dollars) Wednesday on beverage giant AmBev. The Cade regulator found that AmBev, brewer of Skol, Brahma and Antarctica beers, used discounts, premiums and exclusivity agreements to dissuade retailers from selling competing brands.

• Thursday, July 23rd 2009 - 14:30 UTC

  World’s largest meat processor applies for listing in New York market

  

  The United States unit of the world's largest meat processor, Brazilian JBS SA, filed for an initial public offering of up to 2 billion US dollars on Wednesday, making it the largest planned offering in the US IPO pipeline.

• Thursday, July 23rd 2009 - 14:25 UTC

  Brazil slows basic rate cut as the economy begins to rebound

  

  Brazil’s Central bank lowered on Wednesday the benchmark Selic rate by a half point to a record low 8.75%. The bank had cut the rate by at least a full point at all four previous policy meetings of 2009.

• Wednesday, July 22nd 2009 - 21:57 UTC

  Trade in local currencies instead of US dollar, Mercosur proposal

  

  Mercosur presidents will consider this week during the summit in Paraguay, the possibility of using local currencies to finance inter-region trade, revealed the host country’s president Fernando Lugo.

• Wednesday, July 22nd 2009 - 13:45 UTC

  Argentina implements changes in the Statistics agency

  

  Argentina's Economy ministry will have increased control over the national statistics and census agency, Indec, announced on Tuesday the government in a bid to restore credibility to the country's consumer price data.

• Wednesday, July 22nd 2009 - 09:17 UTC

  The Fed’s Exit Strategy

  

  In anticipation of his Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the United States Congress on July 21st, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke wrote a column which basically is a synthesis of his presentation before the Committee on Financial Services from the US House of Representatives.

• Wednesday, July 22nd 2009 - 07:03 UTC

  US government exposure to financial crisis could reach 23.7 trillion USD

  

  The total exposure of the US government to the financial crisis could reach 23.7 trillion US dollars, according to a watchdog report. Neil Barofsky, overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp), made the estimate in prepared remarks to a House of Representatives committee. The US GDP for 2008 was estimated in 14.3 trillion US dollars.

• Tuesday, July 21st 2009 - 12:01 UTC

  IMF implements plan to inject 250 billion SDR in liquidity boost

  

  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is planning to inject 250 billion US dollars in Special Drawing Righst, SDR, into the global economy to bolster countries’ reserves as part of measures to combat the world economic crisis.

• Tuesday, July 21st 2009 - 11:19 UTC

  Argentina’s primary surplus falls for seventh month running

  

  Argentina's primary budget surplus plunged 65% in June compared to year earlier, marking the seventh straight month of worsening budget results, the government said on Monday.

• Monday, July 20th 2009 - 13:48 UTC

  Signals the worst of the global crisis in Uruguay is moderating

  

  Private analysts and government officials believe there are signs the worst impacts of the global crisis on the Uruguayan economy are moderating. The Leader Index from the local domestic economics analysis think-tank Ceres, last May stabilized after having fallen for seven months running.