Economy

• Saturday, May 2nd 2015 - 07:09 UTC

  Why the US should worry about oil sector jobs

  

  Outside of individual's holding oil stocks, damage to the economy from the fall in oil has been pretty minimal so far. Indeed, the price cut in home heating oil and gasoline has probably outweighed the damage from lower oil prices… so far. Unfortunately, this situation may not last.

• Friday, May 1st 2015 - 06:56 UTC

  Uruguay forecast to grow 2.5% this year, but must “strongly moderate” public spending

  

  Private consultants forecast the Uruguayan economy will expand 2.5% in 2015, compared to 3.5% the previous year, but recommend a “strong moderation” in government spending to retake the path of sustained growth and contain the consequences of an adverse international scenario mostly recessive.

• Friday, May 1st 2015 - 06:44 UTC

  Leading Argentine economist says that we must admit “IMF is incorrigible”

  

  Economist Aldo Ferrer has said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was “incorrigible”, questioning the report the multilateral credit organism released this week saying Argentina should devalue on its peso currency and carry out austerity policies to get back on the track of growth.

• Friday, May 1st 2015 - 06:22 UTC

  Euro zone scrapes out of deflation in April; unemployment remains above 11%

  

  Consumer prices in the Euro zone scraped out of deflation in April after four months, official data has shown, boosting hopes of economic recovery in Europe. The inflation rate in the 19 nations that use the Euro stood at 0% in April, up from a rate of -0.1% in March. Eurostat said that low energy costs were continuing to cut living costs.

• Thursday, April 30th 2015 - 07:52 UTC

  Brazil raises basic rate 50 points to 13.25%, highest since December 2008

  

  As was anticipated and in line with the current anti-inflation policy, Brazil's central bank on Wednesday evening announced the increase of the basic Selic interest rate another 50 points to 13.25% from 12.75%. The decision from the nine-member Monetary Committee was unanimous, according to the official release.

• Thursday, April 30th 2015 - 01:51 UTC

  US economy slows down to 0.2% growth in the first quarter, but forecast is optimistic

  

  The US economy “all but stagnated” in the first three months of the year, growing at an annual rate of just 0.2%, official figures show. The growth figure was far lower than expectations, which had forecast growth would be about 1%. Harsh winter weather for a second year dampened consumer spending, while energy companies struggling with low oil prices cut investment.

• Thursday, April 30th 2015 - 01:24 UTC

  Fed leaves interest rate at record low following two-day meeting

  

  The US Federal Reserve has kept its target interest rate at a record low at the end of a two-day policy meeting in Washington, DC. The US central bank has indicated it will raise rates soon, as long as the US economy continued to grow, but the timing of the increase remains uncertain.

• Thursday, April 30th 2015 - 01:12 UTC

  IMF insists with gloomy forecasts for Argentina's economy this year and 2016

  

  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has repeated its forecast of a 0.3% drop in Argentine GDP over the course of 2015, while recommending a devaluation of the Peso and austerity measures in order to stimulate growth in the economy.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 22:48 UTC

  Uruguay insists Mercosur must achieve “a free trade zone which effectively works”

  

  Uruguay again complained about the current stalled situation of Mercosur and called for members to 'sincere' themselves regarding the compliance of the original 1991 founding charter, and hopefully “we can at least reach the first stage of the chronogram: a free trade zone which effectively works and has not to bear the brunt of hurdles”.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2015 - 09:22 UTC

  Argentine central bank increases reserves to highest level since November 2013

  

  Argentina's central bank bought 630 million of dollars on the local currency market on Tuesday in one of its largest-ever purchases, a move that will bolster the country's precariously low hard currency reserves. Some 500 million of the dollars purchased were proceeds from last week's 1.5 billion auction of bonds by state energy company YPF.