
Joaquim Levy, managing director and World Bank chief financial officer, has been tapped to be the next president of Brazil’s national economic and social development bank BNDES, news advanced to a column in daily O Estado de S. Paulo published on Sunday.

UK ministers have been told judgment day is coming over Brexit as the UK and EU strive for a deal within 48 hours. Officials are trying to hammer out an agreement on the terms of the UK's exit by Wednesday to enable EU leaders to agree it by the end of the month.

The pound has sunk in volatile trading after reports that a Brexit deal was near were downplayed by UK officials. Downing Street said “substantial issues” still need to be resolved as negotiators try to secure an agreement over the UK's exit from the EU.

They call it production adjustments, but in reality most major oil extracting countries agreed Sunday new strategies regarding crude output were needed in light of the surplus accrued over the past few months.

Argentine industrial activity plunged 11.5% year-on-year in September – the biggest drop in 16 years. The INDEC national statistics bureau said that manufacturing witnessed a fifth consecutive month of decline, following drops of 1.2% in May, 8.1% in June, 5.7% in July and 5.6% in August. It’s the biggest contraction since July 2002.

International food commodity prices dipped in October, as falling dairy, meat and vegetable oils prices more than offset a surge in sugar prices, the United Nations said. The FAO Food Price Index, a measure of the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, averaged 163.5 points in October, down 0.9 percent from September and 7.4 percent below its level a year earlier.

Fuel retailer Axion cut down its prices by 3.2% in Argentina, in line with declines of both the US dollar exchange rate and the international oil barrell, it was reported Saturday. Other companies are expected to follow suit shortly.

Argentina’s central bank said it would nearly double its currency swap deal with China, bringing the total to 130 billion Yuan (US$ 18.7 billion), as Beijing looks to expand its influence in the recession-struck country. Central Bank President Guido Sandleris, who was in China finalizing the agreement, said that the deal for 70 billion Yuan would be expanded by 60 billion Yuan, according to a bank spokesman.

A spike in consumer spending driven by warm weather and England's surprise run to the semifinals of the soccer World Cup helped the British economy post its best growth in nearly two years during the third quarter, official figures showed on Friday.

Evo Morales' government pushing to expand the bolivianisation of the country's economy has resulted in a shortage of foreign currency - particularly of US dollars - and to a subsequent growth of the exchange black market, it as repirted.