Economy

• Monday, March 23rd 2009 - 08:25 UTC

  US to announce Monday plan for purchase of banks’ toxic assets

  

  A key adviser within US President Barack Obama's administration says she is “incredibly confident” the US economy will recover within 12 months. Christina Romer, head of the White House's economic advice council, told Fox TV “we will be seeing signs the economy is turning around”.

• Monday, March 23rd 2009 - 07:53 UTC

  Banking system losses in the US keep mounting: 32 billion in fourth quarter

  

  United States banks lost 32.1 billion US dollars in the last quarter of 2008 - even worse than the 26.2 billion originally reported, US federal regulators say.

• Sunday, March 22nd 2009 - 17:40 UTC

  Venezuela: Chavez trims budget, adds debt to counter crisis

  

  Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday almost tripled his government's borrowing plan and trimmed his budget to offset a slide in oil revenues, but resisted pressure to devalue the local bolivar currency.

• Saturday, March 21st 2009 - 12:57 UTC

  Uruguay completes first South American dairy cattle export to China

  

  Uruguay completed this week the first South American export of live dairy cattle to China. A total of 3.970 Holstein calves and heifers (8 to 18 months old) were shipped for the thirty day journey which will be followed by two month quarantine in mainland China.

• Saturday, March 21st 2009 - 11:32 UTC

  Argentine, Brazilian businesses agree to fight “Chinese imports”

  

  With the master touch of Brazilian diplomacy the Friday regional summit with Argentina not only sent a clear political message of understanding between Mercosur main partners, but also evidence of that close coordination.

• Saturday, March 21st 2009 - 10:13 UTC

  Argentina and Brazil close ranks and downplay trade differences

  

  Argentine visiting president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva called on Friday for speedier financing of joint development and commerce projects to help stimulate decreasing bilateral trade.

• Friday, March 20th 2009 - 10:11 UTC

  IMF calls on G20 to bolster demand and more concerted policies

  

  Despite major stimulus packages announced by advanced economies and several emerging markets, trade volumes have shrunk rapidly, while production and employment data suggest that global activity continues to contract in the first quarter of 2009, the IMF said in a new assessment of the global economy.

• Friday, March 20th 2009 - 07:03 UTC

  Uruguay’s preliminary farm losses to drought estimated in 450 million USD

  

  Uruguay lost an estimated 450 million US dollars as a direct consequence of the several months long drought, according to acting Agriculture minister Andres Berterreche. The primary figure revealed during a meeting with business leaders on Thursday represents the equivalent of 1.5% of Uruguay’s GDP

• Friday, March 20th 2009 - 06:53 UTC

  US Congress reacts to AIG and targets Treasury Secretary

  

  US lawmakers in the House of Representatives have voted in favour of a bill to levy a 90% tax on big bonuses from firms bailed out by taxpayers.

• Friday, March 20th 2009 - 05:36 UTC

  Argentina’s current account surplus begun downturn in fourth quarter

  

  Argentina's fourth-quarter current account surplus shrank 40% from a year earlier to 1.81 billion USD, mainly because of a smaller merchandise trade surplus as the global financial crisis hurt the local economy, the government said on Thursday.