United States economic growth is grinding to a halt, but the Euro zone is doing relatively well so far, according to the latest assessment from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Although the Latin American economy isn't immune to the crisis in the United States, it's in a better position than 10 years ago and Central America and the Caribbean will feel the effects more than South American countries, said World Bank vice president Pamela Cox this week in Bogota.

Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said the current financial crisis is the worst the world has seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s and the US Federal Reserve move to cut interest rates will not make much difference.

Brazil's trade surplus shrank to 882 million US dollars in February, less than one third of the same month a year ago 2.9 billion US dollars, according to the country's Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

Chile's Central Bank (BC) president Jose De Gregorio cautioned this week against speculation on the low US dollar, warning that, when the currency begins to regain value, such actions could cause significant financial losses.

The mounting global credit crisis could develop into a financial contagion and could wipe 800 billion US dollars of value from the books of US and global financial institutions, an official of the International Monetary Fund said.

Argentina became in 2007 the world's leading exporter of horse meta, totaling 35.755 tons equivalent to 87.5 million US dollars, according to the latest report from the Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food Secretary.

The stand off between the Argentine government and striking farmers who are protesting against export taxes on grains, beef and dairy produce has yet to see effective signals of a cooling of the situation or the possibility of a dialogue.

The Federal Reserve cut US interest rates sharply (0.75%) in an attempt to restore confidence to nervous financial markets and boost the ailing economy. However the cut was smaller than markets expected and the rate now stands at 2.25% (down from 3%), almost at inflation level.

Worry about the damage a growing credit crisis is inflicting on an ailing U.S. economy led the Federal Reserve to make a rare weekend move, lowering a key lending rate before Wall Street opened Monday.