Economy

• Tuesday, January 13th 2015 - 08:31 UTC

  Argentina suspends HSBC from transferring money abroad for 30 days

  

  Argentina said on Monday it was suspending HSBC Bank Argentina's right to transfer money abroad for 30 days due to “irregularities”, two months after charging it with helping clients evade taxes by siphoning their funds off to Switzerland.

• Tuesday, January 13th 2015 - 08:10 UTC

  US economy creates more jobs; unemployment falls to 5.6% during December

  

  The US economy added 252,000 jobs in December, while the unemployment rate fell to 5.6% from 5.8%, according to Labor Department figures. In addition, figures for the number of jobs created in October and November were both revised upwards. The jobless rate is now at its lowest since June 2008.

• Tuesday, January 13th 2015 - 07:30 UTC

  Arrests in Venezuela following protests over swelling lines for basic goods

  

  At least a dozen protesters arrested in Venezuela remained in jail and masked assailants burned a bus overnight amid scattered unrest over swelling lines for basic goods, activists said.

• Sunday, January 11th 2015 - 11:39 UTC

  Rousseff orders ministries to cut spending by a third

  

  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has instructed a budget cut which affects 39 ministries, reducing their funds by a third, in order to save a figure estimated at 703 million dollars per month.

• Saturday, January 10th 2015 - 06:49 UTC

  Caricom countries want to use Chinese credit to restructure debt

  

  Caribbean Community countries (Caricom) want to use the three billion US dollar concessionary facility announced by China last year for debt restructuring and refinancing among other initiatives, CARICOM Chairman Perry Christie has said.

• Saturday, January 10th 2015 - 06:44 UTC

  Argentina's comprehensive strategic (and vital) association with China

  

  Argentina and China entered a new phase of their relationship in July last year after upgrading it to a “comprehensive strategic association” and signing a battery of agreements, which include a 4.7 billion investment in hydroelectric dams, 2.09 billion in the renovation of the rail system and an 11 billion currency swap.

• Saturday, January 10th 2015 - 06:41 UTC

  China pledges 250bn in investments and 500bn in bilateral trade with Latam

  

  Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged on Thursday 250 billion dollars in investment in Latin America over the next five years as part of a drive to boost resource-hungry China’s influence in the region.

• Saturday, January 10th 2015 - 06:28 UTC

  FAO Food Price index falls in 20014 on large cereals' supplies and record stocks

  

  FAO's monthly Food Price Index declined in December after three months of stability. Continued large supplies and record stocks combined with a stronger U.S. dollar and falling oil prices contributed to the decline, which helped bring the 2014 overall Food Price Index down 3.7%.

• Saturday, January 10th 2015 - 06:22 UTC

  Significance of China for Latam trade and investment underlined by Eclac

  

  The importance of forging closer strategic ties between China and Latin America was underlined by Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), in her speech to the China-Community of Latin American and Caribbean two-day ministerial forum that took place in Beijing.

• Friday, January 9th 2015 - 06:42 UTC

  Merkel said Germany wants Greece in the Euro-zone, but Athens must abide bailout terms

  

  Germany's Angela Merkel has played down the chances of a Greek exit from the Euro zone, but made clear she expected Athens to stick to the terms of its international bailouts after this month's election.