
The European Central Bank will consider the impact of future lawsuits and fines in its review of whether the Euro zone's 131 most important lenders have enough capital to withstand another recession.

The Bank of England opted this week to keep its main interest rate at a record-low level of 0.50% against a backdrop of solid British economic growth. The central bank's nine-member monetary policy committee decided also to maintain the level of cash stimulus in the economy at £375 billion, it said in a statement.

European Central Bank President Mario Dragui signaled he was pleased with the recent decline in the Euro's exchange rate and outlined a number of forces that may weaken it further, providing a potential boost to weak inflation in the region.

A day after Economy minister Axel Kicillof admitted problems with the Argentine economy, president Cristina Fernandez announced on Thursday a battery of measures to prop economic activity, open the labor market for young people, avoid redundancies and give the property market a thrust.

Argentine President Cristina Fernández on Thursday urged US President Barack Obama to intercede in the dispute between Argentina and holdouts over Argentine debt, while blasting New York judge Thomas Griesa for “not making any sense”.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has reminded the Venezuelan government that if it fails to settle debts with international airlines, the country would be isolated from the world; hence, the association urged Venezuela to reach agreements, and above all, to fulfill such agreements.

Brazil confirmed that it will try to bring forward to 2016 the free trade agreement with Chile, Peru and Colombia, scheduled for 2019 and underlined the need for Mercosur and the Pacific Alliance to converge as part of the region's productive integration process.

New York District judge Thomas Griesa has scheduled a hearing at 4 pm local time on Friday to address Argentina's recent public statements over their attempts to pay creditors, a court official said. Representatives from both Argentina and holdout investors have been called to the hearing, which will take place in New York.

President Dilma Rousseff claimed before the Brazil's farmers lobby that the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union is stalled and is not fulfilled because of the 'resistance' from several European countries, and specifically named France, Hungary and Ireland.

Inflation in Uruguay remains hard to break having reached 6.17% in the first seven months of the year, the highest since 2007 (6.38%) and over 9% in the last twelve months well ahead of the government's target of 3% to 7%, according to the latest figures from the stats office, INE.