A study released in Montevideo Thursday by the Uruguay XXI Institute showed that the South American country's exports of goods reached U$S 12,845 million in 2024, which represented a 13% increase from 2023, driven particularly by cellulose exports and the recovery of soybean shipments after the drought the year before.
Last year might have meant a battle won against inflation by the Libertarian administration of President Javier Milei. Still, it also represented a significant wage loss for most Argentines if not the disappearance of their livelihoods altogether as it happened to temporary State workers whose contracts were not renewed as customary under previous governments.
Chinese farmers and meat industry associations are complaining about the surge in foreign beef imports and the Ministry of Commerce has promised an investigation into the situation, according to Beijing government sources.
Meteorologists foresee that the La Niña weather phenomenon will not go unnoticed in the Southern Cone next year after the Brazilian agency Metsul reported signs of unusual activity in the Pacific Ocean. The main impact will be reflected in mercurial temperatures, MetSul's warning noted.
Paraguay's Consumer Price Index (CPI) grew 0.7% this month, which represented a setback from 0.3% in the same month last year. Nevertheless, Asunción confirmed closing 2024 with a 3.8% inflation, barely over 2023's 3.7%, according to the Central Bank (BCP), and therefore within the target range of 4%, it was explained Monday. On a brighter note, core inflation stood at 0.3% in December for a yearly variation of 3.4%, which meant progress from the 3.6% registered in 2023.
Monday's issue of Brazil's Central Bank's (BCB) Focus Bulletin twitched last week's 2025 slightly for the worse, with higher inflation and a smaller Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Agencia Brasil reported. The study showed that the Broad Consumer Price Index (IPCA) should end 2025 at 4.96% from the 4.86% forecast last week. It was the 11th adjustment to the inflation projection and the ninth to the exchange rate between the local real and the US dollar.
US dollar expectations in the Brazilian market are beating forecasts having reached R$ 6.30 in December, (from 4.85 in January 2024) making the Brazilian Real one of the largest currencies of emerging countries, as the most devalued during 2024, despite the Central Bank pumping some US$ 17 billion to the market hoping to contain the slide.
Argentina's Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (CAME) reported this weekend that exports between January and November exceeded US$ 9 billion, representing a 21.7% growth in shipments and 27.5% in tonnage, mainly to Brazil and Chile. Overall, South America accounted for 33.1% of sales.
Unemployment in South America's largest country reached 6.1% in the quarter ending last month, Agencia Brasil reported Friday citing figures from Brazil's Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). It was the lowest rate in this time series dating back to the first quarter of 2012.
Former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who now chairs the BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) said Friday after meeting with Uruguay's President-elect Yamandú Orsi at the latter's transition headquarters that the South American country was best positioned to access financing at lower rates for digital, social infrastructure, and education developments.