Economy

• 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.

• Thursday, March 19th 2009 - 16:51 UTC

  Chilean economy expands 0.2% in fourth quarter and 3.2% in 2008

  

  The Chilean economy expanded 0.2% in the last quarter of 2008 closing the year with an overall growth of 3.2%, according to data released by the Central Bank.

• Thursday, March 19th 2009 - 16:30 UTC

  World Bank forecasts China to expand 6.5% in 2009

  

  The World Bank estimates China's gross domestic product for 2009 will be 6.5%, falling short of China's own prediction of 8% growth for the year. Still, the World Bank says China's economy is holding up relatively well and it sees plenty of room for the government to implement effective stimulus measures.

• Thursday, March 19th 2009 - 16:12 UTC

  AIG chief admits “distasteful” excesses but points to the Fed

  

  The boss of US insurer AIG has called the bonuses paid to executives “distasteful” and said he asked some recipients to return at least half. But Edward Liddy said the Federal Reserve knew in November of the 165 million US dollars bonus payments to executives that have caused such a furore in US.

• Thursday, March 19th 2009 - 16:06 UTC

  Federal Reserve will buy 1.2 trillion USD of debt to boost lending

  

  The US Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it will buy almost 1.2 trillion US dollars worth of debt to help boost lending and promote economic recovery. The US central bank said it would start buying long-term government debt and expand purchases of mortgage-related debt.