Economy

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Record 2007/08 harvest in Brazil, 143.8 million tons

  

  Brazil confirmed that the 2007/08 was the greatest grain and oilseed crop ever, 143.8 million tons. The Ministry of Agriculture said it was 9.2% above the previous season and could further increase when the final volumes of the northeast second corn harvest are completed.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  JP Morgan: Uruguay “exposed” to Argentine slowdown

  

  US investment bank JP Morgan said the expected deceleration in Argentina will have an impact for the performance of neighboring Uruguay's economy, according to reports published in the Montevideo press.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazil raises basic rate to 13.75%, highest in two years

  

  The Brazilian Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) of the Central Bank (BC) raised the base interest rate (Selic) by 0.75 percentage point, from 13% to 13.75% a year. This is the fourth consecutive hike in Selic and the highest is almost two years.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  EC forecasts recession ahead for UK, Spain and Germany

  

  United Kingdom is forecasted to fall into recession by the end of the year alongside Spain and Germany after a “sharper than expected” slowdown, the European Commission has predicted.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  UN underlines bumper crops and potential of Russia and Ukraine

  A senior United Nations food agency official on Thursday predicted a bumper harvest of cereal crops in Russia and Ukraine for this year and said the region possesses significant untapped agricultural potential.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Record crude prices swell US trade deficit in July

  

  Rising oil prices swelled the United States trade deficit in July to its widest level since March 2007, according to the latest government figures. The trade deficit widened to 62.2 billion US dollars from an upwardly revised estimate of 58.84 billion in June.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Helicopter sales soar with mining industry in Chile

  

  Helicopter sales in Chile are going up, up, up. Due to the dramatic growth of the mining and energy sectors, the country has tripled its sales of the aircrafts in the past three years. In 2005, the main provider of helicopters in the country sold only six units, while this year they have already sold 22.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguay enjoys solid situation, boasts Minister Astori

  

  Uruguayan Economy minister Danilo Astori who next week steps down to return to his Senate bench and hopefully to become the presidential candidate for the ruling coalition, said that a balanced budget “has no political color be it left or right” and anticipated that this will be a record growth year for the economy.

• Thursday, September 11th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Peru tries to cool fastest growing regional economy

  

  The Peruvian Central Bank raised on Thursday its benchmark interest rate to 6.5% from 6.25%, the latest of several measures to curb inflation. The announcement followed a release from the Ministry of Economy and Finance saying the economy had expanded in July at an estimated 8.9% boosted y by domestic demand and construction industry.

• Wednesday, September 10th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazilian economy expanded 6% in the first half of 2008

  

  Brazil's economy expanded 6.1% in the second quarter of 2008 compared to the same period a year ago and 1.6% over the previous quarter, according to the latest release from the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE. Similarly in the first half of this year Brazil's GDP increased 6% compared to the same period a year ago.