Economy

• Tuesday, April 23rd 2019 - 06:19 UTC

  Samsung postpones release of its folding smart-phone, following screen failures

  

  Samsung has postponed the release of its folding smart-phone, days after several early reviewers said the screens on their devices had broken. The company said it had delayed the launch of the Galaxy Fold to “fully evaluate the feedback and run further internal tests”.

• Monday, April 22nd 2019 - 09:15 UTC

  Argentina’s president attempts to improve his fading chances of re-election (*)

  

  Mauricio Macri's original plan was to address Argentina’s citizens on television on the final working day before the Easter break. But he opted for a folksier way of presenting an economic package that he hopes will rescue his chances of being re-elected president in October. He appeared in a taped video, knocking on the door of a house belonging to a young working-class couple, then sitting down with them to explain his plan.

• Monday, April 22nd 2019 - 08:06 UTC

  UK pub numbers dropped from 54.000 to 43.000 in seven years

  

  Nearly 1,000 UK pubs shut last year, although the rate of closures is slowing, new research claims. About 76 pubs a month “vanished” from the communities they served in 2018, as people spent less on going out and pubs faced cost pressures, said property firm Altus Group.

• Saturday, April 20th 2019 - 09:43 UTC

  England and France top bankers warn of financial risks associated to climate change

  

  The heads of two major central banks have written a stark warning about the financial risks of climate change. Bank of England governor Mark Carney and France's François Villeroy de Galhau set out the dangers to the global economy in an open letter.

• Saturday, April 20th 2019 - 09:21 UTC

  Argentina's think tank CARI underlines the significance of China's Belt and Road forum

  

  Argentine experts have expressed the belief that the upcoming Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation can yield more concrete steps for collaboration between China and Latin America. Members of the Asian Affairs Committee at Argentina's Council on International Relations (CARI), a leading think tank, spoke to China's government news agency Xinhua in the lead-up to the forum.

• Friday, April 19th 2019 - 09:29 UTC

  Brazil to put up new pre-salt oil blocks for auction in October

  

  Brazil will hold an offshore oil deposit auction in October featuring blocks that were the object of a long-running dispute with state energy giant Petrobras. Reuters reports, citing Economy Minister Paulo Guedes, that participants in the auction will need to cough up a signing bonus of a total US$26.9 billion for the four blocks.

• Thursday, April 18th 2019 - 09:44 UTC

  Macri announces freeze in the price of basic goods and in public services

  

  Argentina's President Mauricio Macri announced a freeze in the price of basic goods and public services on Wednesday in a bid to limit the impact of spiraling inflation that could hamper his re-election hopes in October. Hit by soaring prices due to inflation that reached almost 55% over the last 12 months, many Argentines have been calling for a change in economic policy.

• Thursday, April 18th 2019 - 09:41 UTC

  Petrobras insists it is completely free of political interference and increases diesel price 10 cents

  

  Brazilian state-run oil firm Petrobras hiked diesel prices on Wednesday, and executives said the firm could expand its already aggressive divestment plan while arguing the company was completely free of political interference.

• Thursday, April 18th 2019 - 09:40 UTC

  China's growth stabilizes 6.4% year-on-year in first quarter

  

  The growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in China stabilized 6.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2019, despite falling global demand and the trade war with the United States. The figure was announced on Wednesday by the National Bureau of Statistics (BNS), along with other rather optimistic indicators on the health of the world's second largest economy.

• Thursday, April 18th 2019 - 08:22 UTC

  Minister says pension reform will pass within four months, helping the Brazilian economy to grow by 3.5%

  

  Brazil's economic growth may accelerate to a 3.5% annual rate in the second half of the year after the approval of pension reforms, Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said in an interview with TV channel Globo news.