Economy

• Wednesday, May 9th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  EU threatens total ban on imports of Brazilian beef

  

  Animal health authorities in Brazil have been told in no uncertain terms that the EU will impose a total ban on imports of beef by the end of the year unless standards of welfare, traceability and residue testing match those of Europe.

• Wednesday, May 9th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Fed leaves rates unchanged at 5.25% but main “concern” is inflation

  In a move widely expected the United States Federal Reserve kept its main interest rate on hold at 5.25%, but warned that its predominant policy concerns remains “the risk that inflation will fail to moderate as expected”.

• Wednesday, May 9th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  WTO asks Chile do drop tariff barriers on Argentine wheat and flour

  

  The World Trade Organization has ruled that Chile should not apply tariff barriers to the price of Argentine wheat and flour. The ruling was a response Chile's final appeal to the WTO in the lengthy trade dispute with Argentina that began in 2000.

• Tuesday, May 8th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  On tenth anniversary of crisis Asia pools financial reserves

  

  Asian finance ministers have agreed plans to pool the region's vast financial reserves to protect their currencies from speculative attack. The agreement, reached at a meeting in Japan, comes almost 10 years after speculators triggered an economic crisis across the region in 1997.

• Monday, May 7th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  New record for copper but US dollar in Chile keeps falling

  Copper prices rose to a ten-month record high Friday of US$ 3.73 per pound at the London Metal Exchange. This helped push the value of the U.S. dollar in Chilean money markets to new lows and led speculation about the effects this might have in the country's economy.

• Monday, May 7th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  April retail prices hike questions Uruguay's inflationary target

  

  Alarm bells are ringing in Uruguay following the release of April's Consumer Prices Index, 1.22% totaling 4.58% in the first four months of 2007 and 8.11% in the last twelve months, when the overall target for this year was established in the range of 4.5% to 6.5%.

• Friday, May 4th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  Brazilian stocks record; Bovespa index above 50.000 points

  Brazilian stocks climbed Thursday to a new record pushing the benchmark Bovespa index above 50,000 for the first time. The index of most-traded shares on the Sao Paulo exchange rose 746.68 or 1.5% to 50,218.22.

• Friday, May 4th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  South American countries agree creation of development bank

  

  The Finance and Economy ministers from Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela decided Thursday in Quito the creation in parallel of a development bank and a macroeconomic stabilization fund to support financially the region.

• Friday, May 4th 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  S&P Raises Uruguay Outlook to Positive

  S&P has raised its outlook on Uruguay's B+ sovereign credit rating to positive from stable to reflect expectations of a sustained implementation of the economic policy agenda.

• Thursday, May 3rd 2007 - 21:00 UTC

  South America set for dairy increase

  

  The FAO and other specialists of the Dairy Industry predict that, by year 2027, world demand for dairy products will have increased 20% while the price of milk will maintain the same and South American countries will become the key players of the world market for supply of dairy products.