Economy

• Thursday, May 12th 2016 - 04:42 UTC

  EU and Mercosur exchanged market access offers; beef and ethanol excluded as 'sensitive' products

  

  Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and the Foreign Affairs Minister of Uruguay Rodolfo Nin Novoa, on Wednesday exchanged EU and Mercosur offers on access to their respective markets of goods, services and establishment and government procurement. However this first exchange excluded 'sensitive' items such as beef and ethanol, according to EU sources. The details of the documents exchanged were not made public.

• Wednesday, May 11th 2016 - 14:03 UTC

  Panama Papers are becoming an additional challenge for President Macri

  

  Argentine Federal Judge Sebastian Casanello has sent legal requests to Uruguay, United Kingdom, Ireland, Panama and Brazil, and likewise ordered local financial institutions in the country to provide data on the Macri family accounts as part of an ongoing investigation of the Argentine president overseas assets in so called tax havens, which emerged from the latest release of Panama Papers by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

• Wednesday, May 11th 2016 - 12:29 UTC

  Prominent economists call for global tax transparency arguing poor countries are the biggest losers

  

  New global rules forcing companies to report taxable activities country-by-country publicly have been called for by a group of 300 prominent economists. In a letter to world leaders, the group urges the UK to “take a lead” in the push for more tax transparency and argues that poor countries are the biggest losers from tax havens.

• Wednesday, May 11th 2016 - 12:14 UTC

  Oil markets on alert: major overhaul in Saudi Arabia´s cabinet and economic policy

  

  Saudi Arabia's King Salman removed the country's veteran oil minister as part of a broad government overhaul. Ali al-Naimi has been replaced after more than 20 years in the role by former health minister Khaled al-Falih.

• Wednesday, May 11th 2016 - 09:23 UTC

  Brussels assures EU farmers that beef is out of trade negotiations with Mercosur

  

  The European Union Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, announced on Tuesday that beef will not be part of the current Mercosur trade deal negotiations. The news follows a meeting between the Commissioner and NFU Cymru, which was held on Glamorgan NFU Cymru Chairman, Abi Reader’s farm, in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2016 - 18:31 UTC

  Apologizes to the Brazilian people, and pledges to return US$ 280 million from a major construction contractor

  

  Andrade Gutierrez, the second largest public works contractor in Brazil is to make public an “apology to the Brazilian people” for the illegal actions in the public construction contracts investigated by the Brazilian Federal Police's Lava Jato operation, reports Folha de Sao Paulo.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2016 - 08:55 UTC

  Macri strikes deal with business leaders to suspend layoffs but Congress criticizes

  

  Argentine President Mauricio Macri has struck a temporary deal with local businessmen and some unions to suspend layoffs for 90 days. Macri's announcement of the deal on Monday comes as job cuts and high inflation rate are worrying many Argentines and Congress is in the process of approving an anti-layoffs bill that doubles severance pay and bans layoffs without cause for 180 days.

• Tuesday, May 10th 2016 - 06:56 UTC

  Brazil's political adrift situation shocks markets but is a plum day for speculators

  

  Brazilian markets weakened on Monday after the acting lower house speaker in Brazil's Congress annulled an impeachment vote, though losses were pared as investors bet the move would delay rather than prevent leftist President Dilma Rousseff's removal from office.

• Monday, May 9th 2016 - 11:29 UTC

  Fitch downgrades Brazil's sovereign debt into junk territory, as political crisis deepens

  

  Fitch Ratings downgraded Brazil's sovereign debt further into junk territory on Thursday, citing a deeper-than-expected economic contraction and changing fiscal targets that have undermined credibility. The agency downgraded Brazil to BB from BB+ with a negative outlook a week before a Senate vote that is expected to lead to the suspension of unpopular leftist President Dilma Rousseff.

• Monday, May 9th 2016 - 09:17 UTC

  S&P raises Argentina's credit rating, but warns about the 40% inflation

  

  Argentina’s credit rating was raised to B- from selective default by S&P Global Ratings, which cited the country’s payment last Thursday of $2.7 billion of past-due interest on bonds in default since July 2014.