Latin America

• Saturday, February 9th 2013 - 09:32 UTC

  Venezuela devalues currency 32% to help cut 11% of GDP fiscal gap

  

  Venezuela devalued its currency for the fifth time in nine years as ailing President Hugo Chavez seeks to narrow a widening fiscal gap and reduce a shortage of dollars in the economy. The new exchange rate falls by 32% to 6.3 Bolivar per dollar starting Feb. 13, Finance Minister Jorge Giordani told reporters in Caracas.

• Saturday, February 9th 2013 - 09:23 UTC

  Ecuador presidential election turning into a one man race

  

  Populist Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has maintained a huge lead over his nearest opposition rival in the run-up to the Feb. 17 elections, recent polls show. Correa's popularity has remained above 50% throughout his six years in office, buoyed by his personal charisma as well as his government's heavy spending on hospitals, roads and schools.

• Saturday, February 9th 2013 - 09:16 UTC

  India signs ambitious mining agreement with Uruguay

  

  India has shown great interest in mining iron ore, granite, gold and diamond in Uruguay and has entered into a deal for exploring and encouraging investment opportunities in the mining sector, according to Indian sources visiting Uruguay.

• Friday, February 8th 2013 - 06:51 UTC

  “No big deal with inflation, I grew up in a country with 70%/80% inflation”

  

  Two contrasting views have surfaced in the Uruguayan government regarding inflation which has been steadily climbing and seems so far immune to monetary tools, but is now the second highest in the region behind Argentina.

• Friday, February 8th 2013 - 05:13 UTC

  Economic activity in Chile expanded 4.7% in December and 5.5% in the twelve months

  

  Economic activity in Chile grew 4.7% in December from the year earlier on gains in the service and retail industries, and ended the twelve months of 2012 with an expansion of 5.5% over the previous year according to Central bank data.

• Wednesday, February 6th 2013 - 21:53 UTC

  Uruguay promotes a free trade agreement of Mercosur with Canada

  

  Foreign minister Luis Almagro announced that Uruguay will work for a free trade agreement between Mercosur and Canada during the first half of the year when Uruguay holds the chair of the South American group that also includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Venezuela.

• Tuesday, February 5th 2013 - 20:51 UTC

  Colombia reaches sustained production of over a million barrels of oil per day

  

  Colombia announced that it produced an average of 1.01 million barrels of oil per day in January, marking the first time that average crude output for a month surpassed the one million-barrel mark that the government had set as a target for the country's oil industry.

• Tuesday, February 5th 2013 - 16:51 UTC

  Ecuador: two killed in political rally; Correa leads comfortably re-re-election bid

  

  A campaign rally for Ecuador's president Rafael Correa turned deadly Monday night when a man stabbed and killed two people, state media reported. At least four others were injured at the event that President Correa was expected to arrive at moments later, the state news agency ANDES said.

• Friday, February 1st 2013 - 23:07 UTC

  Uruguay’s budget deficit soars to 2.8% of GDP; Minister pleads for ‘austerity’

  

  Uruguay’s budget fiscal deficit soared to 1.35 billion dollars or 2.8% of GDP last year, the highest since 2003, propped by energy costs, extraordinary one time payments and support for the recently implemented national health scheme, according to a release from the Ministry of Economy.

• Friday, February 1st 2013 - 20:13 UTC

  Falklands regret Timerman attitude and calls on Argentina “to respect our rights”

  

  The Falkland Islands government said on Friday it deeply regrets that Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman refused to meet with lawmakers from the Islands and Foreign Secretary William Hague, next week when he travels to London.