Economy

• 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.

• Thursday, April 18th 2019 - 07:48 UTC

  Bolton announces further crackdown on “the three stooges of socialism”

  

  The Trump administration on Wednesday intensified its crackdown on Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, rolling back Obama administration policy and announcing new restrictions and sanctions against the three countries whose leaders national security adviser John Bolton dubbed the “three stooges of socialism.”

• Wednesday, April 17th 2019 - 09:58 UTC

  Argentina's inflation 54.7% in 12-months; more monetary “contraction measures” and support from IMF

  

  Argentina's inflation rate accelerated for the third straight month in March, the government statistics agency said on Tuesday, prompting the central bank to unveil fresh measures to temper raging inflation and protect the embattled peso currency.

• Wednesday, April 17th 2019 - 09:56 UTC

  Qatar Petroleum wins five offshore blocks in Argentina's South Atlantic basins

  

  Qatar Petroleum (QP) has won exploration rights in five offshore blocks in the North Argentina, and Malvinas West basins in Argentina. The winning bids were announced on Tuesday by Argentina’s Secretariat of Government of Energy (“SGE”) at the end of a public tender process that started in November 2018.

• Wednesday, April 17th 2019 - 09:55 UTC

  China interested in more Brazilian meat and increasing investment

  

  China is planning to allow more Brazilian meat imports following high-level talks set for May, the Chinese ambassador to Brazil said on Monday. Yang Wanming declined to comment on how many meat processing plants could be approved to export to China but said the issue would be discussed when Brazil Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias travels to China in May.