Economy

• Wednesday, April 1st 2015 - 07:45 UTC

  Cristina Fernandez lashes out at unions for the 24-hour strike that brought Argentina to a halt

  

  President Cristina Fernandez fiercely criticized the trade union leaders behind Tuesday's 24-hour general strike, which brought Argentina to a halt, arguing that adhesion to the measure would have been far lower if public transport had functioned as normal.

• Wednesday, April 1st 2015 - 07:25 UTC

  Clearstream stops settlement on all Argentine bonds; asks clarification from government

  

  Following the CNV securities regulator’s decision to suspend Citibank Argentina from its custody business in the country, Clearstream said in a press release it stopped settlement on all Argentine bonds, and will re-open for non-exchange bonds if it gets clarification.

• Wednesday, April 1st 2015 - 06:21 UTC

  Fiscal imbalances and higher financial risks ahead for Latin America warns IDB

  

  Most Latin American and Caribbean countries need to make budget adjustments in the face of rising fiscal imbalances and higher financial risks, according to the Inter-American Development Bank’s annual macroeconomic report issued this week.

• Tuesday, March 31st 2015 - 12:08 UTC

  Brazil's development bank admits losses of 800m dollars on Petrobras stock

  

  Brazil's state-run National Development Bank posted healthy profits Monday, but indicated losses of some 800 million dollars on its stock in Petrobras, whose market value has plunged on a graft scandal and lower oil prices.

• Tuesday, March 31st 2015 - 10:13 UTC

  Brazil ready to join China's Asian Investment bank; (Argentina any moment)

  

  The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, AIIB, seen as a challenge to existing institutions the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, has drawn a cool response from the United States, despite which European U.S. allies including Britain, France, Germany and Italy have already announced they would join the bank.

• Tuesday, March 31st 2015 - 05:44 UTC

  Unions bring Argentina to a halt over income tax and promise more industrial action

  

  Argentine Labor unions will carry out more strikes after a 24-hour walkout Tuesday, if the government doesn’t heed their demand for less tax pressure, a union leader said on Monday.“The measures of force are going to increase if (the government) continues with the provocations and without giving us a response to our demands,” trucker union boss Pablo Moyano said to a local radio station.

• Monday, March 30th 2015 - 10:32 UTC

  US economic growth cools in the fourth quarter and profits take a hit from strong dollar

  

  US economic growth cooled in the fourth quarter as previously reported and after-tax corporate profits took a hit from a strong dollar, which could undermine future business spending. GDP expanded at a 2.2% annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday in its third estimate of GDP. That was unrevised from the forecast the government published last month.

• Monday, March 30th 2015 - 07:13 UTC

  Falklands economy main contributor is fishing industry: 34% of GDP in 2012

  

  Measured by GDP, fishing is the most important industry in the Falkland Islands and in 2012 contributed 34% to GDP, according to the State of the Falklands Economy report from the FIG Policy Unit.

• Monday, March 30th 2015 - 06:58 UTC

  Falklands' oil industry advances despite the fall in oil prices, according to FT

  

  A recent piece from the Financial Times points to the fact that despite the remoteness of the Falkland Islands, the fall of international oil prices and the ongoing conflict with Argentina, this has not impeded small oil and gas companies from going ahead with exploration, and hopefully before 2020 production, in the Islands waters.

• Monday, March 30th 2015 - 06:47 UTC

  Citibank suspended in Argentina “until it revokes agreement with Griesa and holdout funds”

  

  Economy Minister Axel Kicillof said the suspension of Citibank Argentina, ordered by the National Securities Commission (CNV) financial watchdog, will stay in place until the bank revokes its agreement not to appeal US Judge Thomas Griesa’s ruling that interest payments on Argentina's restructured local law bonds could not be processed if the bank was allowed to make two one-off payments to help it exit its local custody business.