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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, July 20th 2025 - 00:02 UTC

Economy

  • Tuesday, May 17th 2016 - 11:00 UTC

    Brazil's economy contracts for fifteenth consecutive month

    Private economists consulted in the Central Bank's latest weekly survey expects Brazil's GDP to shrink by a further 3.86% this year.

    Brazil's economic activity contracted by 1.44% in the first quarter relative to October-December 2015 and 6.27% compared to the same three-month period of 2015, the Central Bank said Friday. The figures come from the Central Bank's Index of Economic Activity, or IBC-Br, an indicator used as a preview of the gross domestic product (GDP) number.

  • Tuesday, May 17th 2016 - 07:25 UTC

    Temer names a woman to head Brazil's giant development bank, BNDES

    Maria Silvia Bastos Marques, a career bureaucrat and onetime steel executive who worked on Rio de Janeiro’s Olympics preparations, will head BNDES

    Brazil’s interim President Michel Temer will replace the head of the government’s giant development bank with a female economist, following heavy criticism over his appointment of an all-male white cabinet.

  • Tuesday, May 17th 2016 - 06:23 UTC

    Falklands hopeful of improved relations with Argentina, Gilbert House tells BIMR conference

    Cherie Clifford, MLA Dr. Barry Elsby meet CPA Secretary General Akbar Khan at the States of Assembly in the island of Jersey

    Falkland Islands remains hopeful of improved relations with the new administration of Argentina and cooperation in the many areas of mutual interest such as fisheries and connectivity, but sovereignty of the Falklands is not for negotiation, reads the Gilbert House report to the 46th British Isles and Mediterranean Region Conference, which opened on Sunday in Jersey.

  • Monday, May 16th 2016 - 21:35 UTC

    Urban unemployment in Latin America to increase 7% this year, says ECLAC

    After six years without any increase, unemployment started growing in Latin America in 2015, going from 6% in 2014 to 6.5% last year.

    Urban unemployment in Latin America will hit 7% this year, growing 0.5 percent point from last year’s 6.5% rate, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said in a joint report — a drop linked to the region’s lower growth.

  • Monday, May 16th 2016 - 18:56 UTC

    The Falklands would be safer after Brexit

    UK’s liberation of the Falklands, which strengthened the credibility of British power worldwide for decades, did not benefit at all from membership of the EEC

    By Julian Thompson for The Telegraph (*)

    As the EU referendum campaign enters its final stages, the Remain camp is resorting to ever more desperate fear tactics to win the argument. The latest – and most ludicrous – proposition is that the future of UK dependent territories will be under threat if we leave. Without EU support, we are told, Argentina would perceive Britain as “weakened” and might invade the Falklands.

  • Monday, May 16th 2016 - 18:52 UTC

    April FAO Food Price Index 10% below a year ago; South America soy prospects less favorable

    Maize quotations increased the most, influenced by weaker US dollar and spill over from soaring prices in the vegetable oils complex

    The FAO Food Price Index (FFPI) averaged 151.8 points in April 2016, up 1.1 points (0.7 percent) from March, but almost 10 percent below its April 2015 level. A relatively strong rise in vegetable oil quotations coupled with a more modest gain in international prices of cereals more than offset a decline in dairy and sugar prices.

  • Monday, May 16th 2016 - 18:49 UTC

    Venezuelan soldiers steal goats because no food is left in the barracks

    The incident was reported by El Nacional on its Sunday edition, with six soldiers detained by local authorities

    The situation in Venezuela has become so bad that even soldiers are struggling to support themselves. Over the weekend, six members of the Venezuelan military were detained by local authorities for stealing goats, the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional reported on Sunday. It said the soldiers confessed to stealing the goats and said they did it to feed themselves, since they had no food left in their barracks.

  • Monday, May 16th 2016 - 18:45 UTC

    Petrobras implosion takes a major player from the floating production systems market

    Petrobras’ situation needs to stabilize and begin improving before the company can again be a major driver of production floater contracts.

    Brazil´s Petrobras problems has taken a major player from the market for new floating production systems in the oil business, according to a report from the industry. In effect absence of new contracts has forced fabricators and equipment suppliers to make huge cutbacks in personnel and spending and the past 12 to 18 months have been a difficult period the whole deepwater production sector.

  • Monday, May 16th 2016 - 07:25 UTC

    Argentina's economy grows 0.8% during first quarter says Central bank

    “There are mixed signals in the economy. Consumption is falling but investment is growing”, Sturzenegger said. “We have high hopes for the second half of the year.”

    Argentina's economy grew 0.8% on the first quarter of the year compared to the same period last year, Central Bank Governor Federico Sturzenegger said, declaring that since President Mauricio Macri took office employment has remained “stable.”

  • Monday, May 16th 2016 - 06:57 UTC

    Chile set clocks back sixty minutes on Sunday to winter time

    Continental Chile will stand at a four hour difference with Greenwich international time, GMT, instead of the three hour difference during summer months

    As of midnight Sunday, May 15, Chile implemented winter time to save energy, which means clocks had to be put back a full sixty minutes. The measure is adopted every year following on a resolution from the Ministry of Energy and will be effective until 13 August.