
Transparency International has released its 2020 Corruption Perception Index, which is not very generous with Latin American countries, including Mercosur members Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, with Uruguay the great exception and best-ranked in the Americas behind Canada.

The Falkland Islands capital, Stanley Retail Price Index (RPI) indicated that the cost of living has dropped again in the last quarter of 2020 after a steady increase in the previous two quarters.

Uruguayan president Luis Lacalle Pou announced on Wednesday the partial lifting of the borders' total closure which had been established last December 20, but all other measures that had been announced on that date remain in full compliance.

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has been s skeptical of the coronavirus pandemic and the effectiveness of different vaccines to contain it, arguing that the economy, jobs and activity, were the priority above sanitary recommendations. As a result of this approach, his administration's federal spending jumped almost 40% between January and November, according to the Institute of International Finance. And Bolsonaro had even admitted the country is “broke.”

Argentina is worried about domestic food prices and inflation, and as it happened a few weeks ago with an attempt to ban corn exports, a similar situation apparently is happening with wheat, and the different actors involved are working on measures aimed at securing the wheat supply and reasonable bread and pasta prices.

IMF projects China's economy will grow 8.1% in 2021 and 5.6% in 2022. The global growth is expected to be 5.5% in 2021 and 4.2% in 2022 after an estimated 3.5% contraction in 2020, according to the latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) released on Tuesday.

China and New Zealand signed the upgrading protocol of their free trade agreement (FTA) via video link on Tuesday with new commitments in trade market entry, investment, and other key aspects.

The global economy is set to lose over US$ 22 trillion between 2020 and 2025, due to the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday. The economy will likely see a strong rebound this year, but the pandemic is causing severe damage said IMF chief economist Gita Gopinath.

Tentative signs of recovery are emerging in global labor markets, following unprecedented disruption in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the latest report from the International Labour Organization, ILO.

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), said on Monday that the journey to recovery in 2021 would most likely be accompanied by a very high level of uncertainty before a transition to a new economy.