Economy

Friday, December 4th 2015 - 05:55 UTC
Mercosur waiting for EU proposal; summit to be held at Conmebol convention centre

Mercosur is waiting for the European Union to decide when to begin the exchange of tariff-reduction proposals with the purpose of reaching an encompassing trade and cooperation agreement, despite France's objections to the move, said Rigoberto Gauto, Paraguay's deputy foreign minister. Paraguay currently holds the Mercosur chair and leads negotiations with Brussels.
Friday, December 4th 2015 - 05:33 UTC
Uruguay could be heading to recession because of the government's political stalemate

Uruguay faces seven conditions which are creating a complex scenario and if they are not modified by government, it's most possible the economy is heading for a recession, according to economist Juan Carlos Protasi, a former central bank president.
Friday, December 4th 2015 - 05:23 UTC
Uruguayan government unable to keep inflation below two digits

Inflation in Uruguay during the first eleven months of 2015 was double digit, 10.04%, a figure which if confirmed by the end of the year, could trigger a rash of labor review demands from unions. According to the country's stats office INE, in November retail prices climbed 0.43%, and in the last twelve months reached 9.46%, ahead of October's 9.15%.
Friday, December 4th 2015 - 05:07 UTC
Agriculture can boost production by 40%/50% with measures announced by Macri's team

Gustavo Grobocopatel, head of the agro-business Grobo group anticipated that with the measures announced by the team of president elect Mauricio Macri and to be implemented from next 10 December, Argentina's grains and oilseed crop “it going to increase by 40% to 50%”, meaning dollars for industry, jobs and services.
Wednesday, December 2nd 2015 - 08:52 UTC
RBS and Standard Chartered, weakest in Bank of England stress test

Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered were the weakest of Britain's seven largest lenders in a Bank of England stress test. For the second year, the central bank has subjected the UK's biggest lenders to tests to measure whether they would survive a financial shock.
Tuesday, December 1st 2015 - 08:11 UTC
India outpaces China in economic growth boosted by domestic demand and manufacturing

India's economic growth picked up in July-September, outpacing China on improving domestic demand and manufacturing activity, and the acceleration could persuade the country's central bank to keep interest rates unchanged at its Tuesday meeting.
Tuesday, December 1st 2015 - 07:53 UTC
Yuan joins the exclusive club of IMF's basket of reserve currencies

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has announced that China's currency, the Yuan, will join the fund's basket of reserve currencies. Currently just the US dollar, the euro, the yen and the pound are in the group.
Tuesday, December 1st 2015 - 07:35 UTC
Brazil's economy expected to further contract, according to the Central bank

Analysts expect Brazil's economy to contract by 3.19% this year, with inflation hitting 10.38%, the Central Bank said Monday. GDP and inflation estimates come from the Boletin Focus, a weekly Central Bank survey of analysts from about 100 private financial institutions on the state of the national economy.
Monday, November 30th 2015 - 07:51 UTC
EU hopes Macri's election will give new impetus to trade talks with Mercosur

The European Union said it hopes the election of a centre-right government in Argentina will give new impetus to stalled talks on a free trade pact with Mercosur, the Latin American bloc.
Friday, November 27th 2015 - 15:22 UTC
Oil jobs lost: 250.000 and counting, Texas likely to see massive layoffs soon

Crude oil just capped off a third straight week of declines, as WTI nears the $40 per barrel threshold. Goldman Sachs is once again raising the possibility of oil dipping into the $20s per barrel. That spells more pain for the energy sector. Many companies have already slashed spending and culled their payrolls, but the total number of job losses continues to climb.