Rising food and fuel costs pushed UK inflation up to an 11-year high of 3.8% in June from 3.3% in May, figures show. The rise means inflation is now well above the government's 2% target, and may reduce the chance of a UK rate cut.
The Euro soared to a new high against the US dollar on Tuesday, reaching US$1.6038 in European trading as markets worried about the ongoing US lending crisis and the country's economy.
Brazil's 2008 harvest of cereals, legumes and oilseeds has been estimated in a record 143.6 million metric tons, which is 7.9% higher than the 2007 production (133.1 million metric tons) according to the June report from the country's Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE.
Uruguayan fisheries exports to the European Union have officially resumed this week after having overcome sanitary observations interposed at the beginning of the year, reported the country's Fisheries Department (DINARA) director Daniel Montiel.
Chile's Central Bank raised its target interest rate by 50 points last week to 7.25%, the highest level since February 1999. Citing the need to pull back inflation to its 3% policy goal, the bank raised the monetary policy rate (TPM) for the third time in 2008.
The Spanish group Marsans expects to finalize this week an agreement to sell Aerolíneas Argentinas and its subsidiary Austral to the Argentine government according to company sources in Madrid.
Poor countries will need some 6 billion US dollars in food aid annually, with food and energy prices expected to remain high for years to come, said Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank.
The United States government has announced sweeping measures to shore up the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
The United States trade deficit shrank in May even when average prices for imported oil surged during the month to a record, according to a US Department of Commerce release on Friday. The deficit narrowed to 59.8 billion US dollars from 60.5 billion in April as both exports and imports rose to record highs.
One of the largest United States mortgage lenders, the California-based IndyMac Bank, has collapsed amid a growing credit crisis. Federal regulators seized the bank's assets, fearing it might not be able to meet withdrawals by depositors. It is the second-largest financial institution to fail in US history, regulators say.