Economy

• Wednesday, August 26th 2026 - 08:25 UTC

  PM Burnham on taxes, “I won't be unrealistic, and people need to understand that”

  

  Prime Minister Andy Burnham has suggested tax rises could be on the cards in the coming Autumn Budget, warning “I won’t be unrealistic” over the state of the public purse. The PM quickly pledged to give people “breathing space” and ease the cost of living after taking the keys to No.10 last month.

• Monday, August 24th 2026 - 07:44 UTC

  Unemployment displaces inflation as Argentines' main concern

  

  Unemployment has become the leading problem Argentines want the government to solve, well ahead of inflation, according to the economic expectations report by the polling firm Opina Argentina released over the weekend. Thirty-six percent of respondents placed it first, followed by corruption on 32%, while inflation fell to 11% and insecurity to 9%.

• Sunday, August 23rd 2026 - 22:41 UTC

  Argentina votes this week on the reform barring the central bank from funding the Treasury

  

  Argentina's Chamber of Deputies will on Wednesday debate the reform of the central bank's charter promoted by Javier Milei's government, which bars the monetary authority from financing the fiscal deficit through money creation and restores preservation of the value of the currency as its sole objective.

• Sunday, August 23rd 2026 - 22:32 UTC

  The Mercosur-Singapore trade agreement reaches Argentina's Congress

  

  Argentina's Chamber of Deputies will on Wednesday take up ratification of the free trade agreement between Mercosur and Singapore, signed in December 2023 and still awaiting parliamentary approval. It is the first trade treaty the bloc has concluded with a Southeast Asian country.

• Friday, August 21st 2026 - 10:47 UTC

  ECLAC trims its 2026 forecast for Latin America and the Caribbean to 2.2%

  

  The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean on Thursday lowered its regional growth projection for 2026 to 2.2%, one tenth below the estimate issued in December. The United Nations body expects a partial recovery to 2.5% in 2027 and warns that the current pace is insufficient to sustainably raise income per capita.

• Friday, August 21st 2026 - 05:20 UTC

  US gross national debt passes 40 trillion dollars for the first time

  

  The gross public debt of the United States reached 40.047 trillion dollars on Tuesday, according to data released by the Treasury Department. It is the first time the figure has crossed that threshold, and it has arrived earlier than expected: the Congressional Budget Office had projected 39.4 trillion by the end of fiscal 2026 and placed the jump to 40 trillion in 2027.

• Wednesday, August 19th 2026 - 21:50 UTC

  A critical report says Argentina's investment regime concentrated capital in mining and oil

  

  Argentina's Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), created in 2024, “consolidated a strongly extractive profile and did not stimulate new sectors,” according to a report released on Wednesday by the RIGI Observatory, a coalition of civil society organisations and academic centres that examines the scheme from a critical standpoint.

• Tuesday, August 18th 2026 - 06:52 UTC

  Argentina's vice-president says she is “extremely worried” about those who cannot make ends meet

  

  Argentina's vice-president, Victoria Villarruel, has again distanced herself from Javier Milei's government, voicing concern over unemployment and the financial difficulties facing households. “I am extremely worried about Argentines who today have no work or who cannot make ends meet,” she said at the opening of Expo Venado 2026, an agricultural fair in Venado Tuerto, Santa Fe province.

• Monday, August 17th 2026 - 08:01 UTC

  Uruguay's only industrial brewer negotiates cutting 80 jobs or ending production

  

  Fábricas Nacionales de Cerveza (FNC), Uruguay's only industrial beer producer, is negotiating with the government and the trade union a restructuring that would cut 80 of the 400 jobs at its Montevideo and Minas plants. The company keeps a second scenario on the table, which the parties involved regard as less likely: abandoning local production and operating as an importer, with a workforce reduced to around 100 employees.

• Sunday, August 16th 2026 - 07:46 UTC

  Argentine household arrears reach 17.5% and the government rules out intervening

  

  Arrears on credit to individuals in Argentina reached 17.5% of total lending in June, according to a study by Universidad Austral and the consultancy Eco Go based on central bank data. Javier Milei's government has ruled out intervening and maintains the solution must come from the market.