
The international economics establishment has stepped up pressure on the Federal Reserve to delay raising interest rates, with the World Bank the latest institution to warn that the US central bank risks sparking panic and turmoil in emerging markets if it increases rates next week.

Brazil is well prepared to cope with any market volatility resulting from a U.S. interest rate rise, Finance Minister Joaquim Levy said on Monday. The minister told a meeting in Madrid that Brazil's banks were well capitalized and the country has large foreign exchange reserves.

The US Federal Reserve must be certain that the job market and inflation are strong enough to justify raising interest rates, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said after a G20 meeting focused on the pressure the increase might place on the global economy.

European Union agriculture ministers have announced a €500m aid package after thousands of farmers protested on the streets of Brussels. The mainly Belgian, French and German farmers were protesting against plummeting prices for their produce.

Prime Minister and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy wrote an article for the Spanish newspaper Expansión on competiveness.

MODEC Inc. announced on Thursday that its FPSO 'Cidade de Itaguai MV26', operating in the Iracema Norte area of Lula field, in the Pre-Salt layer of Santos Basin offshore Brazil, has achieved First Oil production on July 31, 2015, five months ahead of the schedule anticipated under the contract.

The most recent meeting of the Falkland Islands' Executive Council (ExCo) was dominated by matters relating to oil exploration and development including recommendations for plans of Noble Energy and Premier Oil to go ahead with drilling of Rhea-1 and Jayne East wells.

Brazil's central bank halted one of the world's boldest rate-hiking cycles on Wednesday, taking pressure off an economy struggling with recession even amid concerns that a looming budget crisis could stoke inflation.

Brazil's industrial production plummeted in July and fell well below economists' worst predictions. Industry output sank 1.5% in July from June in seasonally adjusted terms and was down 8.9% from a year earlier, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, or IBGE, said Wednesday. The IBGE also revised June's drop to 0.9% from 0.3% from the previous month.

Argentina's Central Bank and the Argentine Banking Association (ABA) exchanged fierce criticism on Wednesday after the decision of the monetary authority to remove the licenses of two senior HSBC directors, who will be forced to leave their posts.