Economy

• Tuesday, March 10th 2009 - 07:12 UTC

  Chile’s economy gradually approaching recession

  

  Chile’s economy is forecasted to expand 0.2% in 2009 according to the latest Central Bank Expectations Survey compiled during March. This is a significant drop from the previous survey in February when the forecast was 1.2%.

• Tuesday, March 10th 2009 - 06:47 UTC

  Rainfall mitigates Brazilian soy and corn crop forecasts

  

  Soybean and corn output in Brazil this year will drop less than previously forecasted following abundant rains last month which eased crop damage caused by a drought, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

• Monday, March 9th 2009 - 14:20 UTC

  President Vazquez confident Uruguay is prepared for the crisis

  

  Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez underlined during a political rally over the weekend the successes of his administration and said the country was better prepared to face the current global crisis.

• Monday, March 9th 2009 - 14:16 UTC

  IMF calls for stimulus plans to extend until 2011

  

  The world should adopt economic stimulus plans that carry well into 2010, and possibly 2011, to ease a global recession and must expand financial regulation across all sectors to prevent a similar crisis in future, said the International Monetary Fund.

• Monday, March 9th 2009 - 11:11 UTC

  Australia Chile free trade agreement becomes effective

  

  The Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement came into force on Saturday 6 March, the first trade agreement between Oceania and a Latinamerican country. Besides trade the agreement covers services, investments, government purchases and intellectual property plus a special chapter on academic and scientific cooperation.

• Saturday, March 7th 2009 - 15:03 UTC

  Lloyds Banking Group full nationalization closer

  

  Britain’s Lloyds Banking Group is close to a deal with the government for a £258bn asset insurance scheme, according to BBC sources. The agreement could increase the taxpayer's share in the bank from its current level of 43% to as much as 70%, according to reports.

• Saturday, March 7th 2009 - 07:17 UTC

  Job losses in US “atrocious”; 12.5 million out of work

  

  The United States jobless rate jumped in February to 8.1%, according to official figures from the Labour Department. The number of people out of work rose by 651,000 during the month. Both figures were bigger than expected.

• Friday, March 6th 2009 - 09:03 UTC

  China’s “most difficult year” sends shivers to Mercosur

  

  Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said the current year will be the most difficult the country has faced this century because of the global economic crisis. Addressing parliament this week, Mr Wen reiterated that there would be a 585 billion US dollars investment program to stimulate the Chinese economy.

• Friday, March 6th 2009 - 09:01 UTC

  UK cuts rates to 0.5% and unveils plan “to ease” £ 150 billion

  

  The Bank of England slashed Thursday rates to 0.5% and unveiled plans to pump up to £150 billion into the economy in its boldest bid yet to tackle the recession. Official borrowing costs have now fallen for six months in a row but the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee believes rate cuts alone will not be enough.

• Friday, March 6th 2009 - 09:00 UTC

  Trichet promises “non standard measures” to prop Euro economy

  

  The European Central Bank (ECB) has cut its key interest rate to 1.5% from 2.0%, the lowest since it started setting euro rates in January 1999. It followed a cut in UK rates by the Bank of England. US and Japanese rates are, in effect, already at zero.