
Uruguay has expressed an interest in actively participating in negotiations to liberalize trade in services in the framework of TISA, Trade in Services Agreement which recently held its seventh round of talks in Geneva.

Uruguay has confirmed a third pulp mill to be built to the north east of the country in Cerro Largo, while the second one, Montes del Plata on the River Plate and recently finished is to be formally inaugurated sometime between May 15 and 25, although production will be delayed for a few months since the second wharf is unfinished and the effluents plant non commissioned.

The Argentine unit of Brazilian state-controlled oil giant Petrobras has signed an agreement with the Patagonian province of Rio Negro that extends its three concessions in that region for 10 years. The new deal was inked after the company renegotiated its contractual conditions with the provincial government.

NZ Farming Systems Uruguay, the dairy unit of Singapore-based Olam International in Uruguay, has sold some 7,771 hectares of farm land in Uruguay to local interests for about 53.7 million dollars in gross cash proceeds. The transactions would free up cash “for redeployment into more value-accretive projects,” Olam said in a statement.

Uruguay's fiscal deficit climbed to 3.2% of GDP during March, the highest since October 2003, --equivalent to 1.69 billion dollars--, but Economy minister Mario Bergara said that there is no risk for the sustainability of public accounts or sustainability of current macroeconomic policies.

Brazil's economic and social bank, BNDES, denied it was intent in financing Uruguay's deep sea port on the Atlantic coast, as repeated sources in the Uruguayan government have indicated.

Argentina and Brazilian officials agreed to continue meeting regularly to solve as soon as possible bilateral trade problems mainly those referred to the auto industry. On Tuesday Argentine Finance minister Axel Kicillof and Industry minister Deborah Giorgi met their Brazilian counterparts, Guido Mantega and Mauro Borges in Brasilia.

The British Virgin Islands received more foreign direct investment last year than the major emerging economies of India and Brazil combined, a United Nations survey said on Tuesday. Brazil and India got 63 billion and 28 billion respectively.

After a 16-hour debate, Argentina's Lower House passed the law to pay Spanish Repsol 5 billion dollars in bonds to compensate for the 2012 seizure of a majority stake in Argentina's energy company YPF.

The IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook for the Western Hemisphere, released on Thursday in Lima, Peru, projects regional growth of 2½ percent in 2014, down from 2¾ percent in 2013. Weak investment and subdued demand for the region’s exports held back activity in 2013, as did increasingly binding supply bottlenecks in a number of economies. For 2015, the IMF projects a modest pickup, to 3%.