Economy

• Friday, March 13th 2015 - 12:03 UTC

  Brazil's Levy says austerity measures are more important than a weak currency

  

  Brazil's economic growth depends more on the approval of austerity measures needed to rebuild investor confidence than on a weaker currency, Finance Minister Joaquim Levy told O Globo newspaper.

• Friday, March 13th 2015 - 11:53 UTC

  Brazil's economic difficulties are cyclical argues President Rousseff

  

  President Dilma Rousseff said here Thursday that Brazil's economic woes are cyclical in nature that the austerity measures her administration has adopted to rectify the situation will begin to bear fruit late this year.

• Friday, March 13th 2015 - 11:28 UTC

  Brazil central bank admits interest policy has not been effective in fighting inflation

  

  Brazil's Central Bank appears likely to continue raising interest rates in the short-term, saying in its most recent meeting that its inflation-fighting effort in recent months has been insufficiently effective. The view was reflected in the minutes, published on Thursday, of its monetary policy committee's March 4 meeting, when the bank raised its benchmark Selic interest rate by 50 basis points to 12.75%.

• Friday, March 13th 2015 - 11:18 UTC

  Griesa blocks Citigroup from paying interest on Argentine bonds; group will appeal

  

  A United States federal judge on Thursday said Citigroup Inc cannot process interest payments by Argentina on some bonds issued under that country's law. U.S. District Judge Thomas Griesa in Manhattan said letting Citigroup process the payments on so-called dollar-denominated exchange bonds would violate a requirement that Argentina treat bondholders equally.

• Thursday, March 12th 2015 - 11:45 UTC

  Everyone is guessing when it comes to oil prices

  

  Predicting and diagnosing the trajectory of oil prices has become something of a cottage industry in the past year. But along with all of the excess crude flowing from the oil patch, there is also an abundance of market indicators that while important, tend to produce a lot of noise that makes any accurate estimate nearly impossible.

• Thursday, March 12th 2015 - 01:11 UTC

  Bank of England contrary to further cut interest rates to combat low inflation

  

  Bank of England governor Mark Carney said it would be “extremely foolish” for the Bank of England to cut interest rates to try to combat low inflation. He reiterated comments made in February that the drop in prices was temporary and largely caused by the sharp fall in oil prices.

• Wednesday, March 11th 2015 - 06:32 UTC

  Latam's low indebtedness level opens the way for anti-cyclical fiscal policies to spur economies, says ECLAC

  

  Latin America's public debt decreased in the last 25 years, according to a report from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). External public debt fell from 70% to 16% of the region’s GDP highlighted the fiscal analysis of the region, rising to near 40% when domestic public debt is added to calculations.

• Wednesday, March 11th 2015 - 05:27 UTC

  Falklands' 4.000 ewes to be AI with Australian Poll Merino

  

  Australian Poll Merino genetics are being used to drive lamb survival in one of the world’s harshest wool producing environments of the Falkland Islands, reports The Rural, from Australia.

• Wednesday, March 11th 2015 - 03:02 UTC

  Petrobras whistleblower says Rousseff's party received US$ 200 million from Petrobras contracts

  

  A former Petrobras executive told a congressional hearing in Brazil on Tuesday that the ruling political party received up to 200 million dollars skimmed from contracts with the state-run oil company, reiterating claims made in plea bargain testimony.

• Tuesday, March 10th 2015 - 07:05 UTC

  Brazilian lawmakers accused of Petrobras graft fight back

  

  Brazil’s congressional heads denied involvement in the country’s largest graft scandal after being named among dozens of politicians for investigation. Renan Calheiros and Eduardo Cunha, the heads of the Senate and Lower House respectively, and Rio de Janeiro Senator Lindbergh Farias all rejected allegations of graft in the Petrobras kickback scheme dubbed “Carwash.”