Economy

• Sunday, January 20th 2019 - 05:07 UTC

  Lopez Obrador vows to end fuel theft; dozens die when thieves puncture gasoline pipeline

  

  Mexico’s president vowed on Saturday to redouble his fight against an epidemic of fuel theft after thieves punctured a pipeline north of Mexico City, causing an explosion that killed at least 73 people and injured 75 others. The blast underscored the deadly perils of the fuel-theft racket, which has cost the government billions of dollars a year and has been the target of a weeks' long crackdown by the administration of Mexico’s new president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

• Saturday, January 19th 2019 - 09:28 UTC

  Brazilian lawmakers trip to China triggers strong controversy among Bolsonaro's bunker

  

  A trip to China by lawmakers from Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's party has stirred anger in the far-right leader's entourage, partly because of his wariness of the Asian power but also because of the group's stated mission. The delegation of eight members of Bolsonaro's ultraconservative Social Liberal Party (PSL) said it was on the visit to check out Chinese facial-recognition technology, with a view to it maybe being used in Brazil to combat crime.

• Saturday, January 19th 2019 - 09:13 UTC

  Argentina complies with IMF 2018 primary fiscal deficit target: 2.4% of GDP

  

  Argentina outperformed its primary fiscal deficit target for 2018, Economy Minister Nicolas Dujovne said on Friday, assuring that the country’s standby finance deal with the International Monetary Fund remains on track.

• Saturday, January 19th 2019 - 08:36 UTC

  Leading Germans in an open letter ask UK to remain in the EU

  

  Leading German figures have written to the UK asking it to stay in the European Union. The letter, published in The Times, is signed by 31 people, including the leader of the Christian Democratic Union - and likely successor to Angela Merkel - Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and former Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann.

• Friday, January 18th 2019 - 10:19 UTC

  Doubts about Brazil's real soybean production estimate because of adverse weather

  

  Analysts are casting doubt on the Brazilian government’s soybean production estimate. Conab, the government’s food supply and statistics agency, recently issued a forecast for 118.8 million tons of production, only slightly smaller than last year’s record 119.4 million tons.

• Friday, January 18th 2019 - 10:12 UTC

  Evo Morales’ Bolivia: Abiding the constitution or ensuring the results of sustained economic growth

  

  The Economist has published a piece on Bolivia and its first indigenous president, Evo Morales, who has managed the economy of the continent's poorest country with sustained success during thirteen years. But he has also a strong authoritarian attitude, given his dominance of government branches, and the support of the electorate, mostly indigenous or mestizo. In this scenario, he is running for a fourth consecutive presidential period, which the Constitution bans.

• Friday, January 18th 2019 - 10:04 UTC

  Wholesale prices in Argentina reach 73.5% in 2018; Peso rallies 10% in the midst of recession

  

  Wholesale prices in Argentina shot 73.5% higher in 2018, government data showed on Thursday, the fastest rate since 2002 when they climbed 118% during an economic crisis that tossed millions of middle-class Argentines into poverty.

• Friday, January 18th 2019 - 10:01 UTC

  EU prepares contingency plans for a UK disorderly departure

  

  French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has said a no-deal Brexit looks “less and less unlikely” and has launched a contingency plan to prepare for it. After the UK Parliament rejected the withdrawal agreement, Mr Philippe said laws had to be passed and millions invested in French ports and airports.

• Friday, January 18th 2019 - 09:39 UTC

  China moves in after Hitachi and Toshiba abandon nuclear plants' plans in UK

  

  China’s General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) will bring forward plans to build a nuclear plant in Britain, it said on Thursday, helping plug a gap left by the failure of two Japanese projects.

• Friday, January 18th 2019 - 09:03 UTC

  UK and Spain agree to guarantee reciprocal suffrage at municipal level post-Brexit

  

  Spain’s Foreign Minister Josep Borrell announced this week that Madrid and London have agreed to guarantee electoral rights in local elections for British residents in Spain and Spanish residents in the UK post-Brexit.