Economy

• Friday, June 2nd 2017 - 08:15 UTC

  Relief for Temer: Brazilian economy grew 1% in first quarter of the year

  

  Brazil's economy grew by one percent in the first quarter of 2017, ending eight consecutive quarters of shrinkage in the country's worst recession in history, the state statistics office said Thursday. While not definitively ending the recession, the spike in growth offers another glimmer of light for Latin America's biggest economy -- and could throw a lifeline to President Michel Temer as he tries to fend off a huge corruption scandal.

• Thursday, June 1st 2017 - 07:09 UTC

  JBS meatpackers agree to pay record fine of US$ 3.2bn for corruption practices

  

  J&F Investimentos, controlling shareholder of the world's largest meatpacker JBS SA,, agreed to pay a record-setting 10.3 billion real (US$3.2 billion) fine for its role in corruption scandals that threaten to topple President Michel Temer. The settlement meant Brazil's sweeping graft investigations have now led to the world's two biggest leniency fines ever levied, Brazilian prosecutors said.

• Wednesday, May 31st 2017 - 22:06 UTC

  Brazil cuts Selic rate to 10.25%, lowest since December 2013: slowing inflation and gradual recovery

  

  The Central Bank of Brazil unanimously cut its key Selic rate by 100 basis points to 10.25 percent on Wednesday May 31st of 2017, as widely anticipated. It is the sixth straight rate decline, bringing borrowing costs to the lowest since December of 2013 amid slowing inflation and a gradual recovery.

• Wednesday, May 31st 2017 - 07:24 UTC

  Sterling drops on fears Tories could fail to win an outright majority

  

  The value of the pound dropped after a projection suggested the Conservatives could fail to win an outright majority in the election on 8 June. Previous opinion polls suggested Prime Minister Theresa May's party would increase its majority, which is currently 17 seats.

• Wednesday, May 31st 2017 - 06:16 UTC

  Falklands Annual Address: a confident community's proud report planning for the future

  

  Falklands' Acting Governor Alex Mitham looks back on the past year of activity for the Falkland Islands Government. The ceremony took place on Tuesday morning at the Court and Assembly Chambers during the Budget meeting of the Legislative Assembly

• Tuesday, May 30th 2017 - 09:22 UTC

  Temer urges top electoral court to decide quickly and lift political uncertainty

  

  President Michel Temer urged Brazil's top electoral court to decide quickly on a case alleging illegal funding of his 2014 campaign in order to lift political uncertainty overshadowing a recovery in Latin America's largest economy.

• Tuesday, May 30th 2017 - 08:56 UTC

  EU and Argentina confident a trade deal with Mercosur can be reached by the end of the year

  

  The High Representative and Vice President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini who visited Argentina on Monday praised the rapid progress made in negotiations on a renewed EU/Mercosur trade agreement and was confident remaining obstacles could be overcomes and a deal can be reached by the end of the year.

• Saturday, May 27th 2017 - 14:04 UTC

  A quarter of UK power on Friday was solar, helped by sunshine and high temperatures

  

  A record amount of solar power was generated on Friday as Britain basked in sunshine and temperatures of up to 28C, the National Grid has said. A total 8.7 gigawatts (GW) had been generated at lunchtime, representing 24.3% of total generation across the UK, beating the previous record of 8.48GW set on 10 May.

• Saturday, May 27th 2017 - 08:32 UTC

  Moody's lowers Brazil's credit outlook; Meirelles confident the reform agenda will be approved

  

  Brazil's economy is clearly growing again after a severe recession and will be shielded from a political crisis by widespread support for the government's reform agenda, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said, despite the fact Moody's on Friday announced it was lowering the country's credit outlook.

• Friday, May 26th 2017 - 08:02 UTC

  UK economy losing momentum as Brexit impact begins to be felt

  

  Britain's economy slowed more sharply than first thought in early 2017 as consumers felt the hit from the rise in inflation that followed the Brexit vote and exporters struggled to benefit from the weak pound. Thursday's downbeat official data - which contrasts with signs of acceleration in many other economies - comes two weeks before Britons vote in a national election.