Paraguay is increasingly concerned with the weakness of the US dollar which together with the landlocked South American country commodities export boom is appreciating the local currency far above the Central Bank's target.
The United States Treasury revealed on Monday its blueprint for the biggest overhaul of regulation of the financial sector since the stock market crash of 1929 and the ensuing Great Depression.
Uruguay's exports of goods and services reached a record 6.825 billion US dollars in 2007, up 18% over 2006 according to data released by the Central Bank and published in the Montevideo media.
Swiss financial giant UBS has reported that its write-downs as a result of the sub-prime crisis have more than doubled to about 37 billion US dollars. It is the largest write-down by any bank since the credit crunch began.
United States Federal Reserve will make a further 100 billion US dollars available to major banks in April, trying to ease concerns about a global credit crunch. The sum, offered across two auctions, is in addition to 260 billion US dollars provided in short-term loans to the end of March.
Other unorthodox steps include the Fed allowing investment banks to borrow from it directly, previously only possible for commercial banks.
Argentina's trade surplus in February jumped 23.5% over a year ago reaching 982 million US dollars, but lower than expected because of a surge in imports according to the latest report from the Institute of Statistics and Census, Indec.
World consumption of rice continues to rise and outpace production and the trend will continue in 2008, bringing with it a host of factors that will impact rice producers said Carl Brothers senior vice president of Riceland Foods.
Higher food and fuel prices plunged 1.3 million Argentines below the poverty line in 2007, which means the income of 10.8 million Argentines is not enough to cover the costs of the basic food basket, according to a paper from the Buenos Aires think tank Sociedad de Estudios Laborales, SEL.
Vietnam became the latest rice-producing country to limit exports of the grain and China announced on Friday higher payments to farmers both rice and wheat in an attempt to boost crop production and cool surging inflate
Uruguayan Ministry of Economy admitted that inflation has become a permanent challenge demanding an ongoing monitoring of prices. Remarks follow the latest readjustment of fuel (2.4%) and bakery (14%) prices which have been influenced by the soaring values of oil and wheat.