Economy

• Saturday, August 17th 2019 - 07:00 UTC

  Trump reveals “productive” trade talks with Beijing and anticipates a “fairly short war”

  

  US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that U.S. and Chinese negotiators were holding “productive” trade talks and expected them to meet in September despite U.S. tariffs on over US$125 billion worth of Chinese imports taking effect Sept 1.

• Saturday, August 17th 2019 - 06:47 UTC

  Bolsonaro administration has privatized some US$ 20bn of assets

  

  Brazil has privatized nearly US$ 20bn of assets and investments since the election of right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, according to a government minister. Secretary of state for privatization, divestment and markets Salim Mattar announced that the government’s sweeping program of privatization was going as planned.

• Friday, August 16th 2019 - 12:55 UTC

  Brazil's central bank will sell dollars in the spot currency market; first time in a decade

  

  Brazil’s central bank announced it would sell dollars outright in the spot currency market this month for the first time in over a decade, changing its regular market operations in response to rising demand for liquidity.

• Friday, August 16th 2019 - 07:53 UTC

  Dollar volatility in Argentina eases in line with political dialogue

  

  Argentine markets bucked the dismal three-day losing streak on Thursday, amid signs of political compromise and a new central bank measure to prop up the embattled currency.

• Friday, August 16th 2019 - 07:35 UTC

  Argentina: Macri announces the end of sales taxes on basic food products until 2020

  

  Argentine President Mauricio Macri, trying to recover from a bruising primary election loss, announced on Thursday an end to sales taxes on basic food products until the end of the year in a bid to salvage his re-election prospects and end an economic crisis.

• Friday, August 16th 2019 - 07:21 UTC

  “If Cristina Kirchner gets in and closes the economy,” Brazil will leave Mercosur

  

  Brazil will pull out of the Mercosur trade bloc if the opposition party wins Argentina’s presidential elections later this year and closes the economy with protectionist policies, Brazil’s Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Thursday.

• Thursday, August 15th 2019 - 16:37 UTC

  Embraer is awarded Brazilian certification for the Praetor 500

  

  Embraer has announced that the company’s new Praetor 500 midsize business jet was granted its Type Certificate by Brazil’s Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC—Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil), having been announced in October 2018 at NBAA-BACE.

• Thursday, August 15th 2019 - 12:15 UTC

  Global food commodity prices saw a slight decline in July

  

  The FAO's Food Price Index, (FPI) - a trade-weighted index that measures prices of five major food commodities on international markets - averaged 170.9 points in July 2019, slipping 1.1 percent below its level in June but up 2.3 percent from a year earlier.

• Thursday, August 15th 2019 - 06:15 UTC

  Mar del Plata fisheries landings totaled 210.000 tons in seven months

  

  In seven months of the current year, landings in the Argentine port of Mar del Plata reached 210.000 tons, which is 3.3% more than the same period a year ago, according to local fisheries authorities. Hake, apparently, helped with the positive difference since squid landings were notoriously lower.

• Thursday, August 15th 2019 - 05:30 UTC

  Macri announces measures to cut taxes and prop consumption hopefully to brighten Argentine pockets

  

  Argentine President Mauricio Macri on Wednesday unveiled a package of welfare subsidies and tax cuts for lower-income workers to lessen the impact of an economic crisis just months before a re-election bid, but his announcement did not halt the peso currency's collapse.