Economy

• Friday, April 22nd 2016 - 08:16 UTC

  Draghi defends ECB easy money policy despite sharp criticism from Germany

  

  European Central Bank President Mario Draghi brushed off German criticism of his ultra-loose monetary policy on Thursday and vowed to use all the tools at his disposal for “as long as needed.” He said the ECB's policy was working, which helped boost the Euro.

• Friday, April 22nd 2016 - 07:55 UTC

  Lan's CEO agrees to pay fine in the US to settle charges involving operations in Argentina

  

  Chile's LAN Airlines CEO will pay a US$75,000 fine to settle charges that he authorized improper payments to Argentina union officials to persuade them to ease their demands in a labor dispute, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

• Friday, April 22nd 2016 - 07:48 UTC

  Singer praises Macri and calls him a great 'reformist' in a Time weekly column

  

  United States hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer is a big fan of Argentina’s new president. For one thing, Mauricio Macri doesn’t call him a “vulture lord” or a “bloodsucker,” as his predecessor Cristina Fernández did. More important, the newly elected Macri recently paid Singer’s firm US$2.28 billion in debt.

• Friday, April 22nd 2016 - 07:14 UTC

  Floods in Uruguay have 10.000 people displaced and losses are estimated in a billion dollars

  

  Uruguay's emergency committee reported on Thursday another death and over 10.000 people displaced because of widespread floods that followed a tornado and several days pouring rain. The ninth victim is a farmhand who fell off his horse while trying to cross an overflowed canal. A few hours before the body of a missing farmer was found kilometers down a river that sucked him while he was trying to save cattle.

• Friday, April 22nd 2016 - 06:37 UTC

  Cueto group takes major loss because of Latam Airlines performance problems

  

  Latam Airlines Group, made up of Chilean and Brazilian investors, ended last year with losses of 219 million dollars. However during the same period the Cueto family investment group, identified as Costa Verde Aeronautica, CVA, suffered even higher losses, 414 million dollars, mostly because of the performance problem of the largest Latin American airline.

• Thursday, April 21st 2016 - 12:16 UTC

  Ecuador raises taxes to rebuild cities devastated by major earthquake which continues with aftershocks

  

  President Rafael Correa announced Wednesday night that he is raising sales taxes and will charge a one-time levy on millionaires to rebuild cities devastated by Ecuador's worst earthquake in decades. In a televised address, Correa said damages from the 7.8-magnitude quake will likely run into the billions of dollars, adding to already heavy economic hardships triggered by the collapse in world oil prices.

• Thursday, April 21st 2016 - 11:49 UTC

  Monsanto in collision course with the administration of president Macri

  

  Monsanto has rejected a request by Argentina for more time to collect monies owed by small farmers for royalties on genetically modified soybean seeds. Argentine agricultural minister Ricardo Buryaile and members of his staff have met with Monsanto representatives, including chief operating officer Brett Begemann to request a waiver on the monies owed.

• Wednesday, April 20th 2016 - 06:58 UTC

  Argentina makes emerging-market record US$ 16.5b debt sale and ends litigation with bondholders

  

  Argentina announced on Tuesday the largest emerging market debt sale on record with a global offering of 16.5bn dollars at an average interest rate of 7.14%, well below what it had planned in March in the midst of negotiations to end litigations with holdout funds opening the way, after fifteen years, for the return to world money markets. Underwriters received 68.5bn dollars in orders for bonds, more than four times the value of the debt.

• Wednesday, April 20th 2016 - 06:15 UTC

  Bank of England says it has a duty to talk about the Brexit referendum

  

  It is the Bank's duty to talk about the European Union referendum risks, argues the Bank of England governor Mark Carney, dismissing accusations the Bank is too political. The referendum takes place on 23 June and has become highly controversial.

• Tuesday, April 19th 2016 - 22:42 UTC

  First commercial airliner lands in St Helena: new chapter of opportunities for the BOT island in mid Atlantic

  

  The British Overseas Territory St Helena in mid Atlantic made history on Monday as the first large passenger jet aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 (ZS-ZWG), touched down at St Helena’s new Airport shortly after 12.00 noon. This is the actual Boeing aircraft which will serve the St Helena/Johannesburg rout, according to a release from the local government.