Economy

• Monday, May 2nd 2016 - 05:56 UTC

  Maduro announces 30% increase in the minimum wage

  

  Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro has ordered a 30% increase in the minimum wage, the latest move by the socialist government to grapple with high inflation and economic stagnation.

• Monday, May 2nd 2016 - 05:34 UTC

  Venezuela moves local time 30 minutes up, back to normal

  

  Venezuelan government on Sunday moved local time up 30 minutes, to four hours behind UTC, with an eye toward dealing with the emergency caused by the ongoing severe drought. The time change will enter into effect as of this month and brings Venezuela back to the time schedule that prevailed until 2007, when the government shifted the nation's clocks back by half an hour.

• Sunday, May 1st 2016 - 13:45 UTC

  Consumers want seafood traceability, according to survey commissioned by MSC

  

  The results of the latest market study commissioned by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) reveal an interest among consumers in seafood traceability. Surveys conducted among more than 16,000 seafood consumers globally indicate that over 55% do not trust the labeling of the seafood they consume. In Spain, this value is even higher: 61% of Spanish seafood consumers doubt whether the products they consume are what their packaging reads.

• Sunday, May 1st 2016 - 13:43 UTC

  Magallanes region unemployment during the first quarter reached 3.1%

  

  Magallanes Region in the extreme south of Chile has an unemployment rate of 3.1% during the first quarter of the year, which represents a 0.1 percentage point increase over the same period a year ago, according to the latest stats.

• Saturday, April 30th 2016 - 12:12 UTC

  Argentine unions take to the streets to protest job cuts and inflation

  

  Argentina’s strongest unions brought thousands of people into the streets Friday to protest high inflation and job cuts in the biggest demonstrations against President Mauricio Macri since he took office in December. Demonstrators waving blue and white Argentine flags flooded the main avenues of Buenos Aires, blocking traffic in a protest that brought together rival unions that put aside differences to protest Macri’s policies.

• Saturday, April 30th 2016 - 11:45 UTC

  YPF will fight back legal claim seeking US$ 500 million for rescinding contracts

  

  Argentina's state-run energy company YPF said this week it will fight a legal claim seek more than US$500 million in damages for rescinding natural gas export contracts in 2009. “YPF shall use all its legal resources to defend its interests and those of its shareholders,” the company said in a filing with the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange.

• Friday, April 29th 2016 - 06:50 UTC

  Brazil's central bank leaves benchmark rate at 14.25% forced by stubborn inflation

  

  Brazil's central bank left its benchmark interest rate on hold at 14.25% for a sixth consecutive time, amid stubbornly high inflation and political uncertainty. The bank which makes rate decisions eight times a year has held its key Selic rate steady since the last of seven consecutive hikes in July 2015.

• Friday, April 29th 2016 - 06:42 UTC

  Chilean mining minister inaugurated the British Pavilion at Expomin 2016 in Santiago.

  

  Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and Mining Minister Aurora Williams officially inaugurated Expomin 2016. During her tour through the exhibition, Minister Williams visited the British pavilion, joined by Ambassador Fiona Clouder and UKTI Director Trevor Hines.

• Friday, April 29th 2016 - 06:27 UTC

  ''Vote Leave'' Chair says leaving the EU will not affect UK protection of Overseas Territories

  

  Withdrawal from the European Union will not affect the protection the UK provides for its overseas territories, the chair of Vote Leave, Gisela Stuart, has told MPs in the House of Commons.

• Friday, April 29th 2016 - 06:18 UTC

  Latam and Caribbean forecasted to contract 0.5% in 2016, worst two-year since 1982, says IMF

  

  Latin America and the Caribbean will post an overall 0.5% economic contraction in 2016, the International Monetary Fund forecast in its latest report, capping the region's worst two-year period since the 1982 debt crisis. But the IMF said the region is expected to rebound to 1.5% growth in 2017, avoiding the “lost decade” phenomenon that marked the 1980s.