Economy

• Monday, August 15th 2016 - 15:09 UTC

  July inflation in Brazil remains over target: 8.74% in twelve months

  

  Inflation in Brazil rose more sharply in July than economists expected, official data showed, raising pressure on the central bank to keep interest rates on hold for some time.

• Monday, August 15th 2016 - 07:28 UTC

  Argentina's economy: a battle over utility bills is president Macri’s first big crisis

  

  The following article from The Economist points out that the Argentine Supreme Court in the next ten days has to decide on tariff rises for gas and electricity blocked by lower courts. And president Macri cannot afford to lose sine the price increases are a vital part of his plan to restore confidence in an economy undermined by years of reckless spending.

• Monday, August 15th 2016 - 07:19 UTC

  Brazil concerned about the 25% surge of the Real against the US dollar

  

  The Brazilian Real weakened further on Friday after interim President Michel Temer showed concern over currency strength, while stocks edged lower following a heavy batch of quarterly results including state controlled oil company Petrobras.

• Monday, August 15th 2016 - 07:09 UTC

  Mercosur-India talks expected to expand preferential trade agreement

  

  India has begun the process of expanding its preferential trade agreement with the Mercosur trade bloc, opening its market more to South America and negotiations are expected to start in a month or two. The number of products on which tariff concessions is given is likely to increase to more than 3,000 from 450 at present with more agricultural products getting covered in the pact.

• Saturday, August 13th 2016 - 09:26 UTC

  Falklands' fresh produce high prices blamed on Montevideo's port charges and fees

  

  Uruguayan port charges and fees from port operators and shipping agents are the cause of fresh produce being so expensive in the Falkland Islands, Stanley Nurseries Tim Miller told Penguin News this week. Montevideo port costs add 75-100%, “on top of actual SAAS (shipper) freight costs. In UK similar operations add a mere 20% to the SAAS freight cost said Mr. Miller.

• Saturday, August 13th 2016 - 08:24 UTC

  Argentina's July inflation falls to 2%, confirming sliding tendency

  

  Argentina's inflation rate eased to 2% in July, less than half of what it was two months before when the government began reporting consumer price data after revamping the country's troubled statistics office. The July figure was released on Friday by the new Indec data agency. A month earlier it reported 3.1% inflation for June and 4.2% for May when it issued its first consumer price report since President Mauricio Macri took office in December.

• Saturday, August 13th 2016 - 08:12 UTC

  Catholic Church criticizes Macri's policies and says 1.4 million more have fallen into poverty

  

  A new report released by the Argentine Catholic University (UCA) points to a somewhat bleak outlook on Argentina’s current socioeconomic situation, with the revelation that 1.4 million people fell into poverty between December 2015 and April 2016. The report also provides a qualitative commentary criticizing President Mauricio Macri’s social policies.

• Friday, August 12th 2016 - 07:08 UTC

  Petrobras Q2 profit tumbles by a third; massive debt condition performance

  

  Brazil's Petrobras reported second-quarter profit that fell by nearly a third from a year earlier, missing expectations as oil prices fell and it took charges for layoffs and the impairment of a refinery. Petrobras said net income fell 30% to 370 million Reais (US$118 million) in the three months ended June 30 compared with a profit of 531 million Reais a year earlier.

• Thursday, August 11th 2016 - 17:53 UTC

  Falklands discards air links with Argentina and iterates London pledge to support hydrocarbons development

  

  The Falkland Islands government has made a public statement pointing out that the UK Government has been open and transparent with FIG about how it would like to improve the bilateral relationship with Argentina but ”has made it clear that this will not include negotiations on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.”

• Thursday, August 11th 2016 - 12:57 UTC

  Brazil running out of corn allows imports to supply pork and poultry sectors

  

  A lower-than-anticipated domestic corn supply is pushing prices up, putting pressure on Brazil’s pork and poultry sectors, and forcing the government to intervene, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) said in its latest report.