Latin America

• Wednesday, July 9th 2014 - 07:42 UTC

  Paraguay with record soybean harvest, most of it for exporting

  

  Landlocked Paraguay has become the new 'soybean king' with a harvest of over 9 million tons, a new record, 13% compared to the previous crop, according to the figures released by the Paraguayan Chamber of Grains and Oilseeds Exporters, Capeco.

• Tuesday, July 8th 2014 - 00:08 UTC

  IDB loan to help Uruguay with mathematics and English learning at schools

  

  The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a 6 million dollars loan to Uruguay to finance the Plan Ceibal II (digital content), which will help to strengthen mathematics learning by 90,000 primary and middle school students and extend English teaching to half of all 4th, 5th and 6th graders in urban public primary schools.

• Monday, July 7th 2014 - 23:53 UTC

  Sao Paulo metro will have 'ladies only' wagons given sexual harassment complaints

  

  The Sao Paulo Legislative Assembly has approved a bill making it mandatory for regional train and underground companies of have 'pink' wagons, exclusively for ladies at rush hours.

• Monday, July 7th 2014 - 23:09 UTC

  ECLAC sides with Argentina; calls for Collective Action Clause for sovereign debts

  

  The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, has sided with Argentina in the holdout hedge funds litigation arguing on the need to establish an international mechanism that would allow for the resolution of conflicts of interest caused by sovereign defaults:

• Monday, July 7th 2014 - 07:26 UTC

  Uruguay Vice-president and Latam UN ambassadors claim US justice took sides

  

  Latin American ambassadors to the United Nations (UN) and Uruguay's Vice-president Danilo Astori showed their support to Argentina in its dispute against holdout hedge funds. They agreed that the so-called 'vulture funds' are a risk to debtor nations and that they pose a threat to the region.

• Monday, July 7th 2014 - 07:10 UTC

  Lagarde cautious about growth momentum; infrastructure investment needed

  

  Global economic activity should strengthen in the second half of the year and accelerate in 2015, although momentum could be weaker than expected, IMF chief Christine Lagarde said, hinting at a slight cut in the Fund's growth forecasts.

• Saturday, July 5th 2014 - 09:32 UTC

  Moody's confirms Peru as one of South America's strongest economy

  

  Peru's sustained macroeconomic performance has been recognized through the recently announced upgrade to A3 of its sovereign debt by Moody’s Investors Service. According to the credit rating agency, Peru' government debt was lifted two notches to A3 from Baa2, with a stable outlook for the economy.

• Saturday, July 5th 2014 - 09:26 UTC

  Peru Interior minister accused of killing a journalist in 1988; refuses to resign

  

  Peru’s newly named interior minister has acknowledged being formally accused of murder in the 1988 killing of a journalist when he was a young army intelligence officer fighting Shining Path rebels. But Daniel Urresti faced reporters and proclaimed his innocence and said he had no plans to resign.

• Saturday, July 5th 2014 - 09:13 UTC

  Uruguay's inflation index for June slightly down: 9.08% in twelve months

  

  Uruguay's inflation index experienced a slight deceleration during the twelve months to June, from 9.18% in May to 9.08%, basically because of cheaper fresh food, frozen public utility rates including fuel, while a stabilized exchange rate for the US dollar with a strong Peso, helped with imported goods.

• Saturday, July 5th 2014 - 08:48 UTC

  The Economist on Argentina: “The Luis Suarez of international finance”

  

  In its latest edition The Economist writes about Argentina’s debt stand-off, and states this “reflects a teenage attitude that rules are there to be broken”.