
Argentina's state-controlled energy company YPF will cut capital expenditure by at least 20-25% this year to mitigate the impact of the global oil price rout — leading to growing concerns among union leaders, who claim up to 2,000 workers would be laid off because of the company’s decision.

China faces a tough battle to keep its economy growing by at least 6.5% over the next five years while creating more jobs and restructuring inefficient industries, Premier Li Keqiang said as he opened China's annual parliament.

Panama is holding tough negotiations with cruise lines hoping they will return to the country, using local facilities as Home Port, but government authorities admit that the demands from the companies are too high.

Uruguay's former president Luis Lacalle Herrera said that an air bridge between Montevideo and the Falklands/Malvinas Islands is 'viable' and was optimistic about such an opportunity in the near future.

United Kingdom and Uruguay signed a convention to avoid double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion related to taxes on income and on capital. British Ambassador Ben Lyster-Binns and the Uruguayan Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa signed the agreement in a ceremony at the Palacio Santos in Montevideo.

The United States economy added 242,000 jobs in February, far better than the 190,000 expected by economists. The Labor Department numbers underlined the strength of the US economy and may allow the Federal Reserve to gradually raise interest rates this year. Another 30,000 jobs were also added to the previous estimates for December and January.

Brazil's GDP fared worse than almost any other major economy in 2015, contracting by 3.8%, according to the national statistics agency IBGE. Economic growth in the world's seventh-largest economy has fallen sharply in recent months, which was due partly to low commodity prices and sluggish global growth.

Elliott Management Corp., a New York-based hedge fund that invested in distressed Argentine government bonds well over a decade ago, will have made a $2.4 billion profit on its wager once this week's settlement is finalized, the Wall Street Journal said.

French President Francois Hollande has said he wants the UK to stay in the EU - and warned of the consequences for immigration and the economy of leaving. A French government minister earlier suggested his country could end UK border controls in Calais.

Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras may be forced to pay 7.3 billion Reais (US$1.9 billion) in back taxes and fines after a decision by the country's tax authority Carf, newspaper Valor Economico reported on Wednesday.