Economy

• Tuesday, March 19th 2019 - 06:16 UTC

  IMF commends Argentina's stabilization efforts, releases next US$ 10.8bn, but also demands more austerity

  

  An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by Mr. Roberto Cardarelli visited Argentina during February 11–22, 2019 to conduct discussions on the Third Review of Argentina’s IMF-supported program under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). Talks continued in Washington DC after the end of the mission.

• Tuesday, March 19th 2019 - 05:44 UTC

  Brexit turmoil: Speaker rules out third vote unless Mrs. May's deal is re-submitted in fundamentally different form

  

  Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plans were thrown into further turmoil on Monday when the speaker of parliament ruled that she could not put her divorce deal to a new vote unless it was re-submitted in a fundamentally different form.

• Monday, March 18th 2019 - 09:51 UTC

  Bolsonaro in Washington, meets Trump on Tuesday: closer political collaboration and Venezuela in the agenda

  

  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro arrived in Washington on Sunday to meet with his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump, and cement a conservative-populist alliance that, in part, aims to ramp up pressure on Venezuela.

• Monday, March 18th 2019 - 08:39 UTC

  Germany's two leading banks considering a merger: government supports

  

  Germany's two biggest lenders, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, will hold formal talks about a merger. The announcement caps months of speculation that the two struggling banks would attempt to combine.

• Monday, March 18th 2019 - 08:36 UTC

  Chinese president Xi on state visits to Italy , Monaco and France

  

  Chinese President Xi Jinping will travel to Italy, Monaco and France this week, the foreign ministry said on Monday, with Rome expected to join his global trade infrastructure program despite reservations in other European countries.

• Saturday, March 16th 2019 - 10:15 UTC

  IMF prepared to help Argentina stabilize exchange market volatility in election year

  

  Argentina’s central bank wants to license market makers to help stabilize its embattled peso currency when the Treasury starts newly announced dollar sales in April. The bank hopes the market makers, dealers who agree to buy and sell at set prices, would bolster liquidity in the exchange market to help avoid the sharp gyrations the peso has suffered in recent weeks when it hit a record low of 42.5 pesos per dollar in thin trading.

• Saturday, March 16th 2019 - 09:21 UTC

  Venezuelan continued oil fallout presents a challenge for global markets, says IEA

  

  A major advisor to energy producing nations has suggested that the continued fallout from Venezuela could present a “challenge” for global oil markets. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned that crude supplies from Venezuela are at risk of falling sharply in the midst of an electricity crisis which has paralyzed the country recently.

• Friday, March 15th 2019 - 09:04 UTC

  China approves foreign investment law hopefully to improve relations with US

  

  China's rubber-stamp parliament approved a foreign investment law on Friday that was fast-tracked and may serve as an olive branch in trade talks with the United States. The legislation aims to address long-running grievances from foreign businesses, but the US and European chambers of commerce have voiced concerns that they were not given enough time to give their input.

• Friday, March 15th 2019 - 08:48 UTC

  Argentine inflation in February, 3.8% and 51% in twelve months; central bank new measures

  

  Argentina’s stubbornly high inflation accelerated again in February, the government said on Thursday, sparking the central bank chief to pledge new measures to rein in rising prices that have dogged the South American economy over the last year.

• Friday, March 15th 2019 - 08:38 UTC

  EU open to granting UK a long extension, but some member countries demand certain conditions

  

  European Council President Donald Tusk has said he will appeal to EU leaders “to be open to a long extension” of the Brexit deadline, if the UK needs to rethink its strategy and get consensus. His intervention came as UK MPs voted to seek a delay of the 29 March deadline to leave the EU. EU leaders meet in Brussels on 21 March and they would have the final say.