Economy

• Friday, March 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Fertilizer production expected to outstrip demand says FAO

  World fertilizer production is expected to outstrip demand over the next five years and will support higher levels of food and bio-fuel production, FAO said in a new report entitled “Current world fertilizer trends and outlook to 2011/12”, published this week.

• Friday, March 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Spanish real estate boom funded by black money claims US

  

  The United States State Department 2008 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report makes a link and describes Spain as the “grand European centre for money laundering”, according to the Gibraltar Chronicle.

• Thursday, March 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Colombian assessing impact of trade loss with neighbors

  Colombia is assessing the economic impact of the current diplomatic conflict with Ecuador and Venezuela which represented 9 billion US dollars in trade last year and a significant boost for the country's economic expansion.

• Thursday, March 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Hard times for some of Europe's leading financial institutions

  Some of Europe's leading banks are also facing problems as a consequence of the downfall from the US credit crisis and for having possibly breached US rules banning banks from doing business with countries on a terrorist blacklist.
  
  France's biggest retail bank Credit Agricole made a loss in the last three months of 2007, hit by a hefty charge at its Calyon investment banking arm.

• Thursday, March 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Euro zone and UK leave interest rates unchanged

  

  The European Central Bank (ECB) kept interest rates unchanged at 4% on Thursday as concerns about inflation persist. Earlier in London the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee adopted a similar decision keeping interest rates on hold at 5.25%.

• Wednesday, March 5th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Bernanke calls on bankers to prevent rise in foreclosures

  

  The chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, has said more should be done to prevent homeowners facing foreclosures unnecessarily. Bernanke warned there had been a 50% rise in foreclosures in 2007 to one and a half million, and this is expected to worsen as mortgage repayments rise.
  
  The Fed chairman told a meeting of US bankers that the situation called for a “vigorous response”. This would help communities and the wider economy, he said.

• Tuesday, March 4th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  US housing decline costs UK's main bank 17.2 billion dollars

  HSBC, the UK's largest bank, has said it has made a 17.2 billion US dollar loss after the decline in the US housing market hit the value of its loans. However annual profits still rose 10% to 24.2 billion, up from 22.08 billion the year before.

• Tuesday, March 4th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  US dollar in Chile looses 9.8%; 10 year low: 453 pesos

  

  The US dollar marked its sixth consecutive fall and reached a new ten year minimum against the Chilean peso pushed by the interest rates differential between Chile and United States and the sustained growing price for copper.

• Monday, March 3rd 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Mrs. Kirchner praises current Argentine economic model

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner vowed on Saturday to sustain the current economic model which has spurred the greatest growth in a century and if this year confirms the current expansion rate, in Argentina's history.

• Saturday, March 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Magallanes Region has the lowest unemployment

  Magallanes Region in the extreme south of Chile has the lowest unemployment in the country, 1.8%, according to the latest release from the country's Statistics Office, INE.