Latin America

• Thursday, April 14th 2011 - 19:43 UTC

  Venezuela and Argentina have the highest inflation rates in South America

  

  Venezuela and Argentina recorded the highest rates of inflation in South America during the first quarter of 2011 according to the latest data available.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 23:04 UTC

  EU, Colombia, Peru sign ambitious trade agreement; saves half a billion Euros in tariffs

  

  EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gutch together with Colombian Minister for Trade Sergio Diaz-Granados Guida and Peruvian Deputy Minister for Foreign Trade Carlos Posada Ugaz, celebrated Wednesday in Brussels the initialling of an ambitious trade agreement between the EU, Colombia and Peru.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 17:06 UTC

  Chile raises basic rate to 4.5%, but more on the pipeline says Capital Economics

  

  The Central Bank of Chile (CBC) hiked interest rates by 50bps to 4.5% on Wednesday but with the near-term outlook for growth very good and inflation likely to top 5% in Q4, further policy tightening is on the way, reports Capital Economics that estimates rates to reach 6% by year-end.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 05:06 UTC

  Arms sales down in Chile but the wealthy guard their homes with guns

  

  The number of gun owners has decreased over the past year in Chile from 5.3% to 4.9%. Yet one economic sector—the wealthiest Chileans from the socioeconomic level ABC1—continue to buy firearms at an escalating rate.

• Wednesday, April 13th 2011 - 00:24 UTC

  Chile with some of the worst social indicators among the 34 OECD members

  

  Chile has some of the worst social indicators of the 34 countries that make up the Paris based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to the latest releases from the group.

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 23:17 UTC

  Decline of bee population becomes a threat for Chile’s fruit industry

  

  The Chilean fruit industry is being threatened by the rapid decline of the country’s bee population, a product by the country’s ongoing drought.
  Water shortages across central Chile are withering the flower buds, depriving bees of their sustenance, the nectar.

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 21:18 UTC

  Inflation contagion in Latin America with the exception of Mexico, says IMF

  

  Inflation risks are building in all Latin American countries except Mexico, where price gains are low and economic expansion should outpace Brazil this year, according to the the International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook.

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 16:26 UTC

  Chile winery expands in Argentina to double production in five years

  

  The Chilean wine company Viña Montes plans to invest 20 million US dollars in vineyards on the other side of the Andes in neighbouring Argentina, where it expects to double production over the next five years.

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 15:58 UTC

  Humala and Keiko will have to convince the 45% middle of the road vote

  

  With 90% of Sunday’s presidential election ballots counted Peru is headed for a runoff between nationalist Ollanta Humala and former lawmaker Keiko Fujimori, a choice many voters in the country’s surging middle and upper classes might have trouble swallowing.

• Tuesday, April 12th 2011 - 04:25 UTC

  Humala’s run off with Keiko Fujimori; Peruvian economy faces overheating

  

  Peru’s presidential election on Sunday will have a second round of voting between Ollanta Humala and Keiko Fujimori on 5th June, according to the latest official percentages which indicate the nationalist former Army officer has 31.75% of the vote and the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, 23.29%, quite distanced from Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s (PPK) 18.8%.