Latin America

• Monday, November 18th 2013 - 18:33 UTC

  Astori forecasts Uruguay's inflation in the range of 3 to 7% in the next two years

  

  Vice-president Danilo Astori confirmed that Uruguay will continue with its current flexible foreign exchange policy, because “this has helped us reduce volatilities”, but also admitted concern about inflation, the third highest in South America and fourth in Latin-American and the Caribbean.

• Monday, November 18th 2013 - 17:51 UTC

  Two ladies in the runoff for Chile's presidency, but Pinochet's legacy is still around

  

  Two ladies and daughters of Air Force generals (but from opposite sides) will be disputing the run off on 15 December when the next Chilean president will be elected. Given the fact that on last Sunday's first round Socialist Michelle Bachelet was only three points short of a majority, and over twenty points ahead of conservative Evelyn Matthei there should be no doubts about who will be inaugurated at La Moneda next March 2014.

• Monday, November 18th 2013 - 06:00 UTC

  Chile election: Bachelet and Matthei go to second round

  

  Left-wing candidate Michelle Bachelet has won the first round of voting in Chile's presidential election.She took 47% of the votes, against 25% for her main rival, Evelyn Matthei, a former Labour minister in the centre-right government of Sebastian Pinera. A second round of voting will take place on 15 December.

• Saturday, November 16th 2013 - 07:25 UTC

  Next Tuesday Venezuelan president Maduro will begin governing by decree

  

  Venezuela's legislature gave initial backing this week to a measure granting extraordinary powers over the economy to President Nicolas Maduro, which means next Tuesday, when the second vote, he will be able to govern by decree without having to seek parliamentary approval.

• Saturday, November 16th 2013 - 06:54 UTC

  Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon increased by a third over the past year

  

  Deforestation in the Amazon increased by nearly a third over the past year, according to Brazilian government figures released this week, confirming a feared reversal in what had been steady progress over the past decade against destruction of the world's largest rainforest.

• Friday, November 15th 2013 - 16:27 UTC

  The anonymous millions of dollars spent in Chilean campaign donations

  

  It will come as no surprise to Chileans that some of the country’s biggest companies — and richest families — have donated millions of dollars to presidential and parliamentary campaigns this election season. However, until an investigative report was published last week, people were only able to speculate on the matter, as a law passed in 2003 allows donors and donations to remain completely anonymous.

• Thursday, November 14th 2013 - 19:58 UTC

  UK becomes observer of the Pacific Alliance, announces Chilean foreign minister

  

  Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Alfredo Moreno has said that the UK has been granted Observer Status of the Pacific Alliance. The announcement was made by Moreno during his recent visit to Europe. The Pacific Alliance is made up of Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico and is consolidating as the fastest growing group in the region.

• Thursday, November 14th 2013 - 18:30 UTC

  Business climate in Latam receives 'unfavorable' assessment from Brazil's leading foundation

  

  The business climate (ICE) in Uruguay was down in the third quarter of the year, which means the country dropped from position 5 to 7 in the ranking of the eleven economies contemplated in the index elaborated by the Brazilian Getulio Vargas Foundation and Germany's respected IFO.

• Thursday, November 14th 2013 - 07:38 UTC

  IMF to review Argentina's 'new' stats on inflation and GDP, next 9 December

  

  The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday it will review Argentina's progress on improving its economic statistics in December, after censuring the country last February for supplying poor data.

• Thursday, November 14th 2013 - 04:21 UTC

  “Cristina Fernandez will resume and complete her mandate”, despite fragile health

  

  Argentine president Cristina Fernandez “will resume her duties and complete the four years of her mandate”, there is coincidence on this among incumbents and opposition, even when the leader's health remains delicate, according to Argentine political analyst Nelson Castro.