Economy

• Thursday, April 16th 2009 - 04:18 UTC

  Panama Canal transit falls modestly in spite of global crisis

  

  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.

• Wednesday, April 15th 2009 - 10:45 UTC

  Lower House approves Brazil’s Sovereign Wealth Fund

  

  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.

• Wednesday, April 15th 2009 - 10:43 UTC

  Kirchner denies recession and insists Argentina continues to expand

  

  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.

• Wednesday, April 15th 2009 - 08:38 UTC

  Ecuador grew 6.5% in 2008; forecasts 2.5% in 2009

  

  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.

• Wednesday, April 15th 2009 - 05:21 UTC

  Study reveals UK cities most hit by recession unemployment

  

  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.

• Tuesday, April 14th 2009 - 13:19 UTC

  China optimistic about recovery but ready to “spend more”

  

  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.

• Tuesday, April 14th 2009 - 11:46 UTC

  Brazilian economists forecast worst recession since 1992

  

  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.

• Monday, April 13th 2009 - 08:36 UTC

  Argentine industry calls for “non tariff barriers” against world crisis

  

  Argentina should appeal to “non tariff barriers” to protect itself from the global crisis said Hector Mendez, who this week takes over as head of the country’s largest federation of industries, Industrial Union of Argentina, after having elected to the post.

• Saturday, April 11th 2009 - 13:47 UTC

  Lula da Silva “obsessed” with reducing bank rates

  

  Brazil named Aldemir Bendine as chief executive of federally owned Banco do Brasil Aldemir Bendine seeking to boost lending in the country's financial system and lower borrowing costs. Bendine, a Banco do Brasil veteran who was previously in charge of its credit card and new retail business, succeeds Antonio Francisco de Lima Neto as CEO.

• Saturday, April 11th 2009 - 08:26 UTC

  Bi-national Patagonia Chamber is born in Punta Arenas

  

  Argentine and Chilean delegations officially launched this week in Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile, the Bi-national Patagonia Chamber which brings together fifteen regional chambers from the regions of Aisen and Magallanes and Argentine Patagonia.