Economy

• Friday, October 20th 2017 - 07:39 UTC

  May expects no advance on Brexit talks at the EU leaders' summit

  

  Prime Minister Theresa May has made clear that she is not expecting a Brexit breakthrough at this week’s summit of EU leaders, describing it as an opportunity to “take stock” of progress so far. Mrs. May said she would be setting out “ambitious plans” for further negotiations in the weeks ahead, and said she wanted to inject a new “urgency” into discussions on the post-Brexit rights of EU citizens living in the UK and Britons on the continent.

• Friday, October 20th 2017 - 05:18 UTC

  Some thoughts about the 9 November Falklands' general election

  

  By John Fowler - At the time of going to press, so far sixteen brave or foolhardy souls have declared their candidature for the General Election. This is one more than in 2013 and may be the most ever. With an average age of less than fifty years this group is almost certainly the youngest. Gone, it would seem, are the days when only the wealthy, retired, unemployed, or possibly unemployable old were available to stand.

• Thursday, October 19th 2017 - 07:39 UTC

  Mercosur/EU trade deal again faces French foot dragging with Irish support

  

  France will propose changing the European Commission’s mandate to negotiate a trade deal with Mercosur bloc to include food safety provisions, its envoy to Brazil said on this week.

• Thursday, October 19th 2017 - 07:17 UTC

  UK banks allegedly involved in helping launder money stolen from South Africa

  

  UK banks may have been used to launder money stolen from South Africa, a former cabinet minister has alleged in a letter to Chancellor Philip Hammond. Labour Lord Peter Hain said a South African whistle-blower had indicated the banks “maybe inadvertently have been conduits for the corrupt proceeds of money”.

• Thursday, October 19th 2017 - 06:57 UTC

  China has entered a “new era” and should “take centre stage in the world”, Xi announces

  

  China has entered a “new era” where it should “take centre stage in the world”, President Xi Jinping says. The country's rapid progress under “socialism with Chinese characteristics” shows there is “a new choice for other countries”, he told the Communist Party congress.

• Wednesday, October 18th 2017 - 11:56 UTC

  UK inflation climbs to 3% in September, mainly because of the fall in sterling

  

  The UK's key inflation rate hit its highest for more than five years in September, driven up by increases in transport and food prices. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) climbed to 3%, a level it last reached in April 2012, and up from 2.9% in August. The pick-up in inflation raises the likelihood of an increase in interest rates - currently 0.25% - next month.

• Wednesday, October 18th 2017 - 08:42 UTC

  Galician fishing industry recovering and investment in new vessels picking up

  

  The Galician fishing industry is undergoing a boom as Spain recovers from the economic crisis that had caused a halt in the construction of new vessels and investments on new processing plants in recent years, Javier Fraga Diaz, director with Spanish bank Abanca's maritime unit (Banca Mar), revealed.

• Wednesday, October 18th 2017 - 08:28 UTC

  China's credit rating downgraded by S&P, “but might still be too good”

  

  China's credit rating has been downgraded by Standard & Poor's (S&P) because of worries over the rapid buildup of debt in the country. S&P cut China's rating by one notch from AA- to A+, saying its debts had raised “economic and financial risks”.

• Wednesday, October 18th 2017 - 08:24 UTC

  The Fed started to reduce its US$4 trillion boost portfolio from the financial crisis

  

  The Federal Reserve has started to run down some of the investments it made to boost the US economy after the financial crisis. The Fed holds a US$4.2trn portfolio of US Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities, and it will initially cut up to US$10bn each month from the amount it reinvests.

• Tuesday, October 17th 2017 - 12:16 UTC

  Federal audit freezes Rousseff and Gabrielli assets over losses in refinery purchase

  

  Brazil's federal audit court ordered a freeze of former President Dilma Rousseff's assets as well as those of José Sérgio Gabrielli, ex-head of state-run oil company Petrobras, over a US$580 million loss in the 2006 purchase of a Texas refinery.