Economy

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  US mortgages rot deep rooted in German banks

  

  The European Union on Wednesday approved a German bailout of WestLB, a regional bank that lost billions from US mortgages gone badly. Germany can now put up 5 billion Euros to help the bank ride out its exposure to the subprime banking crisis.

• Thursday, May 1st 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Inflation, the main concern for majority of Argentines

  

  Inflation has become the main concern of a majority of Argentines, leaving aside other issues such as insecurity and poverty according to the latest public opinion polls from Ibarometro and Hugo Haime & Associates, released this week in Buenos Aires and which refers to the second half of April.

• Wednesday, April 30th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguay anticipates commodities export boom to continue

  

  Uruguay's Economy minister Danilo Astori said there's no indication forecasting “the fall of Uruguayan exports international prices” in the framework of the current global surge of commodity prices.

• Wednesday, April 30th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Fed cuts rate to 2%; forecasts soft growth in next quarters

  The United States Federal Reserve cut on Wednesday its key interest rate 25 points from 2.25% to 2% as it aims to avoid a possible US recession. It is the seventh rate cut since last September, when the rate was cut from 5.25% to 4.75% and in the range of what markets were expecting.

• Wednesday, April 30th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Investment grade for Brazil; stock market balloons 6.3%

  Brazil's Ibovespa stock exchange index jumped to a record on Wednesday after Standard & Poor's unexpectedly raised the country's credit rating to investment grade. S&P Ratings Services Brazil's debt rating announcement from BB+ to BBB- sent domestic stocks soaring 6.3% hitting a new intraday record of 67,854.

• Wednesday, April 30th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  US households spending grows the slowest since 2001

  

  The United States economy expanded at an annual rate of 0.6% in the first quarter of 2008, exceeding analyst expectations of an annualized growth rate of 0.2%.

• Tuesday, April 29th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  EU expects slowdown and higher inflation in 2008/09

  

  The marked slowdown in global activity, United States on the brink of recession and persisting financial turmoil are expected to have an impact on the European Union in the next 24 months with slower economic growth and higher inflation.

• Tuesday, April 29th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF approves by wide margin vote and quota reforms

  

  The IMF Board of Governors adopted by wide margin far-reaching reforms to increase the voting shares of a majority of the 185 member countries particularly the large emerging economies.

• Tuesday, April 29th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  UN-World Bank task force to tackle global food crisis

  The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is setting up a task force to tackle the global food crisis. Ban Ki-moon said the world faced “widespread hunger, malnutrition and social unrest on an unprecedented scale” because of soaring food prices

• Monday, April 28th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Seven S. American countries launch the Bank of the South

  

  South American Economy ministers agreed in Montevideo on an initial credit turnover of 20 billion US dollars for the regional development Bank of the South as well as each country member's contribution and credit access.