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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, January 31st 2026 - 12:56 UTC

Economy

  • Tuesday, April 12th 2016 - 09:00 UTC

    Don’t Blame Panama. Tax Evasion Is a Global Problem.

    View of Panama City financial district: Panama does not deserve to be singled out on an issue that plagues many countries

    By Juan Carlos Varela (*) - The following was published by The New York Times in The Opinion Pages. DESPITE their name, the Panama Papers are not mainly about Panama. They are not even primarily concerned with Panamanian companies. The more than 11 million documents, illegally hacked and released last week relating to previously undisclosed “offshore” corporations, is roiling the world with revelations of the vulnerability for rampant abuse of legal financial structures by the wealthy.

  • Monday, April 11th 2016 - 06:05 UTC

    ECLAC anticipates minus 1.9% contraction in economic activity this year in South America

    The economies of South America—which are specialized in the production of commodities, especially oil and minerals, and have a growing degree of trade integration with China will record a contraction

    Latin America and the Caribbean are forecast to have an average economic activity contraction of -0.6% during 2016, according to the latest release from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). This new estimate reflects that the contraction experienced by regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015 (-0.5%) will extend to the current year.

  • Monday, April 11th 2016 - 05:46 UTC

    Argentina ready to formally join the IMF fold; Prat-Gay to meet Lagarde this week

    Prat-Gay will attend the IMF-World Bank summit in Washington DC and is expected to discuss the issue with IMF head Christine Lagarde.

    Argentina will start discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week on its first Article IV review in a decade, Finance Minister Alfonso Prat Gay said at a conference held by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in Nassau. “Next week we are going to have a discussion (with the IMF) to agree on an actual schedule for the next Article IV evaluation, which will happen sometime around September,” Prat Gay told the audience on Sunday.

  • Saturday, April 9th 2016 - 16:39 UTC

    Argentina begins next Monday road-show in UK and US to raise US$ 15bn

    Excluded from foreign credit markets since a default in 2001, Argentina has made peace with litigant investors under the administration of president Mauricio Macri.

    Argentine representatives will begin meeting investors Monday as the country returns to the international bond market for the first time in 15 years, it was announced by Economy minister Alfonso Prat-Gay from Bahamas, where he is attending the Inter American Bank annual assembly.

  • Saturday, April 9th 2016 - 16:13 UTC

    EU and Mercosur agree to exchange market access offers in second week of May

    Commissioner Malmström said that “enhancing trade conditions between the EU and Mercosur would bring important economic benefits to our economies”

    The European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and Rodolfo Nin Novoa, Foreign Minister of Uruguay, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the South American trading bloc Mercosur, agreed on Friday in Brussels on the next steps in the negotiations on an EU-Mercosur trade agreement.

  • Saturday, April 9th 2016 - 14:59 UTC

    Panama Papers: EU warning; questions why no US or German prominent names have surfaced

    “People are fed up with these outrages,” said Pierre Moscovici, who heads financial affairs for the 28-nation EU.

    A European Union official threatened to sanction Panama and other nations if they don’t cooperate fully to fight money laundering and tax evasion, after a leak of data showed the small country remains a key destination for people who want to hide money.

  • Friday, April 8th 2016 - 07:28 UTC

    Uruguay in Brussels to begin a crucial round of Mercosur/EU negotiations

    Nin Novoa has a meeting scheduled with EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and is expected to agree on dates for the formal exchange of proposals

    Uruguay Foreign Minister Rodolfo Nin Novoa is scheduled to begin this Friday in Brussels what is believed to be the last round of talks with the European Union to reach a wide ranging cooperation and trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union.

  • Friday, April 8th 2016 - 07:12 UTC

    Irish beef farmers strongly reject accord with Mercosur; protest letter to Trade Commissioner Malmstrom

    Irish Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney wrote a very strongly-worded letter to European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom urging her not to proceed.

    The Irish Farmers' Association has described an European Union offer to allow limited access to the EU market for Mercosur beef producers as “unfair”. The offer, which includes beef producers in Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, is about to be presented to European Union member states for discussion, ahead of a proposed formal exchange of offers as part of the EU-Mercosur trade negotiations in May.

  • Friday, April 8th 2016 - 07:04 UTC

    FAO Food Price Index in March: sugar up, dairy products down and meats stable

    While prices for all dairy commodities fell, butter and cheese were the most affected, reflecting a build-up of stocks in the major exporting countries.

    The FAO Food Price Index for March rose by 1.0% compared to February, as soaring sugar prices and continued increase in palm oil quotations more than offset plunging dairy product prices. The Index averaged 151.0 points in March, its highest level in 2016, but still some 12.0% below its level of a year earlier.

  • Friday, April 8th 2016 - 06:58 UTC

    Large inventories and sluggish demand for 2016/17 global cereal production predicts FAO

    Maize output is seen growing by 1.1% to 1.014 million tons, driven by recovering yields in the European Union and expanding plantings in the United States

    World cereal production in 2016 is set to amount to 2 521 million tons, just 0.2% off last year's large output and the third-highest global performance on record, according to FAO's first forecast for the new season, released on Thursday. Large inventory levels and relatively sluggish global demand mean that market conditions for staple food grains appear stable for at least another season, the agency's latest Cereal Supply and Demand Brief predicts.