Economy

• Monday, April 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Food prices could lead to increased unrest warns “as in Haiti”

  

  The head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) called Monday on donors to respond to the agency's appeal for additional funds to deliver lifesaving assistance, warning that the global surge in food prices could lead to further tensions such as those witnessed recently in Haiti and other countries.

• Monday, April 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguay expects record rice harvest and yield

  

  Uruguay rice harvest is expected to reach a record yield of 8.000 kilos per hectare, among the highest in the world announced Sunday Tabare Aguirre, president of the country's Rice Growers Association.

• Monday, April 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentina after 8 billion in loans for infrastructure

  

  Argentina's Economy Ministry Martín Lousteau with a delegation of provincial governors and experts from his office traveled to Miami for the annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank to discuss terms for a four year credit program totaling 8 billion US dollars in infrastructure and education.

• Monday, April 7th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  New Zealand breaks ground signing free trade pact with China

  

  New Zealand became on Monday the first developed nation to sign a free-trade agreement with China. Prime Minister Helen Clark and her Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao, witnessed the signing of the pact in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

• Sunday, April 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  World Bank lowers Latinamerica growth prospects to 4.8%

  

  The World Bank lowered Latin America's growth estimate for 2008 to 4.8% from 5.1% as a consequence of the economic slowdown in United States, said vice president for the region Pamela Cox.

• Sunday, April 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Wealthy China is good for the world, says Bill Gates

  

  China's growing wealth is good for the world, and there will come a time when the influence of the United States shrinks to the level of its share of the world population, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said at a meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB in Miami.

• Sunday, April 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Magallanes has Chile's lowest unemployment rate

  Magallanes in the extreme south of Chile continues as the region with the lowest unemployment in the country according to the latest release referred to the December/07-February/08 quarter.

• Sunday, April 6th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Falklands' dairy doubles herd; makes yogurt & Che cheese

  

  At the Falkland Islands Stanley Dairy, progress can be measured by the time spent milking the cows. Two years ago when New Zealander Kevin Reynolds arrived with his family to take on the business, his day began before 6am and milking could take anything up to two hours, depending on the mood of the equipment and the 14 cows.

• Saturday, April 5th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Unemployment in the US jumps to 5.1% in March

  Unite States employers shed 80.000 jobs in March, Labor Department figures have shown, in the latest sign that the US economy may be falling into recession. The decline was the third monthly drop in succession, and worse than market expectations of a 60,000 reduction.

• Friday, April 4th 2008 - 21:00 UTC

  Uruguay considering food price subsidies to contain inflation

  Uruguay's March consumer price index CPI jumped 1.14%, the highest since last August and fourth running in the past six months, according to the latest release from the Statistics Office. Government officials expressed concern but cautioned that “consumer inflation has become a challenge all over the world”.