Latin America

• Friday, December 14th 2012 - 07:42 UTC

  Uruguayan economy expands 3% in third quarter boosted by construction of pulp mill

  

  Uruguay’s economy grew faster than economists expected in the third quarter, spurred by increased construction, transportation and communications activity. GDP expanded 3% from a year earlier, the central bank said on Thursday on its website. The economy grew 1.2 percent from the second quarter, the bank said.

• Friday, December 14th 2012 - 07:30 UTC

  IMF expected to delay action on Argentina on stats dispute until mid January

  

  The IMF said Thursday that it was unlikely to take action on Argentina failure to supply accurate statistical data before January, if the country misses a deadline next Monday.

• Friday, December 14th 2012 - 04:45 UTC

  ‘Argentina’s behaviour’ main obstacle for EU/Mercosur trade talks says Brussels

  

  The European Union Trade Commissioner openly accused “Argentina’s behaviour” as the main obstacle in discussions to advance and reach a free trade agreement with Mercosur.

• Thursday, December 13th 2012 - 22:57 UTC

  Chavez in critical condition with three months to live, says Venezuelan doctor

  

  Venezuelan doctor Jose Rafael Marquina, who is based in the US and is known for his accurate prognoses on President Hugo Chavez’s health, told a local Florida radio that the Venezuelan leader Chavez has “between two and three months to live”.

• Thursday, December 13th 2012 - 07:12 UTC

  Panama files dispute before WTO against Argentina’s trade restrictions

  

  Panama filed a dispute against Argentina at the World Trade Organization on Wednesday alleging the government of President Cristina Fernandez had broken WTO rules by discriminating against imports of goods and services.

• Wednesday, December 12th 2012 - 19:34 UTC

  Uruguay’s fiscal and salaries policies out of control plus heterodox ‘solutions’ rumours

  

  Uruguay has “politicized the management of its economy” with the government letting the “trade unions and its political allies” master the country’s budget and the salaries policy, claimed Ernesto Talvi a conservative economist from the local think-tank CERES who is also a World Bank consultant.

• Wednesday, December 12th 2012 - 18:40 UTC

  Uruguay legalizes same sex marriage and rights by overwhelming majority

  

  Uruguay’s Lower House voted 81 in 87 to legalize same sex marriage on Wednesday, approving a single law for both heterosexuals and homosexuals regulating all kinds of family issues, from divorce to adoption to in-vitro fertilization and how parents can name their children.

• Wednesday, December 12th 2012 - 08:12 UTC

  Latam poised for stronger growth in 2013 pushed by Brazil and Argentina

  

  Latin America and the Caribbean will experience stronger economic growth, despite ongoing uncertainties at international level (particularly difficulties faced by Europe, the United States and China), according to new estimates released Tuesday in Santiago de Chile, by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

• Tuesday, December 11th 2012 - 21:33 UTC

  Capital controls debate resurfaces as IMF admits temporary measures to prevent asset bubbles

  

  IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde on a five day tour of Latin America is expected to outline the lender’s reversal of its decades-old opposition to capital controls, even as Brazil says the new position doesn’t go far enough.

• Tuesday, December 11th 2012 - 18:20 UTC

  EU parliament prepares to approve trade accords with Central America, Peru and Colombia

  

  Spanish members of the European parliament and Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht called on Tuesday on the full house to ratify the association agreement of the EU with Central America, and the EU free trade agreement with Colombia and Peru.