Brazilian President Lula da Silva said on Thursday he has watched with sadness the collapse of Wall Street firms that made economic policy recommendations in emerging markets as if they were the super intelligent and we were the poor souls, according to Spanish news agency EFE.

The Economist Intelligence Unit praised in Montevideo the achievements of the Uruguayan economy as really impressive but also cautioned that good times don't last for ever.

The Paris Club has welcomed Argentina's pledge to repay its full debt of 6.7 billion US dollars to the group of creditor nations. Discussions on how the repayment will be made are still ongoing, the group said.

Billionaire investor George Soros has given his gloomiest assessment of the state of the US and world economies. Speaking with BBC business editor Robert Peston Soros said that the acute phase of the credit crunch may be over but effects on the real economy are yet to be felt.

In a bid to save financial markets and economy from further turmoil the United States government agreed Tuesday evening to provide an 85 billion US dollars emergency loan to rescue the huge insurer AIG.

Barclays PLC said Wednesday it may pick up some of Lehman Brothers assets and employees in Europe and Asia, on top of the British bank's deal to acquire key US operations from the failed investment bank.

British bank HBOS confirmed it is in advanced talks with Lloyds TSB about creating a United Kingdom retail banking giant worth £30 billion. The UK government has also said it will overrule any concerns that competition authorities may raise, BBC Business Editor Robert Peston said.

The way out of the global food crisis, which has plunged at least 75 million more humans into hunger and poverty, lies in increased agricultural production, FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf told Italy's Parliament on Wednesday.

United States current account trade deficit increased by 4.3% to 183.1 billion US dollars in the second quarter of this year, up from 175.6 billion in the first quarter, the US Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

Uruguay's fiscal deficit will be double the government's targets for 2008 and 2009 increasing risks for the coming year (which happens to be an electoral year). Clearly expansive monetary and fiscal policies together with mounting pressure for higher salaries and an overheated economy will sustain strong inflationary pressures this year and in 2009.