Economy

Sunday, April 23rd 2017 - 06:51 UTC
UK government recovers the £20.3bn spent bailing out Lloyds Banking Group

The £20.3bn spent bailing out Lloyds Banking Group during the financial crash has been re-paid in full, UK chancellor Philip Hammond has said. Nine years after the government bought 43.4% of Lloyds, the taxpayer has now got slightly more - £20.4bn - back.
Saturday, April 22nd 2017 - 14:15 UTC
IMF Lagarde calls for “growth friendly fiscal policies” and warns on automation

The International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde said that to get the global economy moving at a faster pace it was necessary to share the benefits of capitalism, more global regulation and more action to protect workers against automation and robots.
Saturday, April 22nd 2017 - 09:53 UTC
Tear gas and rubber bullets to protect Cristina Fernandez surrounded by protestors in Rio Gallegos

Argentine ex president Cristina Fernandez and her sister in law and governor of Santa Cruz province Alicia Kirchner, are holding in at their home in Rio Gallegos surrounded by an angry crowd in the midst of a chaotic situation as police try to disperse protestors with tear gas and rubber bullets.
Saturday, April 22nd 2017 - 09:15 UTC
ExxonMobil betting heavily in developing Argentina's Vaca Muerta shale gas

ExxonMobil is planning to speed up investment plans for shale gas drilling in Argentina’s prized Vaca Muerta formation in the Neuquen province. Exxon will start drilling Vaca Muerta in May, by drilling horizontal wells with laterals of 2,500-3,000 meters, Neuquen province governor Omar Gutierrez said this week.
Friday, April 21st 2017 - 10:18 UTC
EU/Mercosur accord is expected to be announced at WTO assembly in Argentina next December

An optimistic foreign minister Susana Malcorra said that Argentina expects the Mercosur/European Union trade agreement to be announced next December during the World Trade Organization meeting to be held in Buenos Aires, and which she described as an event of great political impact.
Friday, April 21st 2017 - 10:08 UTC
Trump administration plans to release major tax reform plan “very soon”

United States Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Thursday the Trump administration plans to release a “major tax reform” plan “very soon”. While the secretary has more recently backed away from meeting his own August deadline, Mnuchin's comments on Thursday reinforced his own commitment to finalize an overhaul of U.S. tax policy in 2017.
Thursday, April 20th 2017 - 23:21 UTC
Russian shipping conglomerate suing Venezuela's oil giant PDVSA for unpaid fees

Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA, sent a tanker in October to the Caribbean with the expectation that its cargo of crude would fetch about US$20 million - money the crisis-stricken nation desperately needs. Instead, the owner of the tanker, the Russian state-owned shipping conglomerate Sovcomflot, held the oil in hopes of collecting partial payment on US$30 million that it says PDVSA owes for unpaid shipping fees.
Thursday, April 20th 2017 - 06:33 UTC
Chubut province declared in state of emergency and agriculture disaster

Chubut province in Argentine Patagonia has been declared in state of emergency and eight of its 16 counties in agriculture disaster as a consequence of torrential rainfall and mudslides which have left huge areas isolateds, or cut off from the communications network.
Wednesday, April 19th 2017 - 21:12 UTC
World Bank praise for Latam countries pursuing counter-cyclical fiscal policies

In a positive development, today more than ever before, Latin American and Caribbean countries are pursuing counter-cyclical fiscal policies - spending more in bad times and saving in good times, according to a new World Bank semiannual report for the region.
Wednesday, April 19th 2017 - 14:38 UTC
Brazilian economy gives signs of recovery, but many challenges remain

Economic activity in Brazil grew in February at the fastest pace since January 2010, a central bank indicator showed this week, in the strongest sign yet that Latin America's largest economy is emerging from a two-year recession. Bumper harvests are expected to have lifted agricultural production in the first quarter of the year, while industrial output improved on a pickup in car exports.