The US dollar ended 2010 at a record low vis-à-vis the Chilean peso which has soared on the strong global demand for copper, the country’s main export. On Friday December 31st the US dollar was operating at 467.30 and 467.80 in Santiago’s money markets, which is the lowest since May 19, 3008 with 467.40.
Cuba’s government, trying to save money and eliminate subsidies announced this week it will remove soap, toothpaste and detergent from the monthly ration of food and consumer products it has handed out since the early days of the Cuban revolution.
Brazil on Tuesday threatened tougher capital controls and other measures to keep its currency from rising against the dollar, a day after Chile's central bank unveiled its own $12 billion plan to buy greenbacks.
Chile's LAN has announced an agreement with the Australian budget airline, Jetstar, owned by Quantas airways.
International economic coordination is as necessary as it is elusive. During the global financial crisis, the G-20 became the primary forum to agree on basic principles in areas such as the fiscal-policy response and the role of the International Monetary Fund.
Between January and October 2010, 402,868 tonnes of tuna was caught in the eastern Pacific, 16 per cent less than the 478,633 tonnes landed in the same period in 2009, according to figures from the Association of Tuna Companies from Ecuador (Atunec).
More than 100 Police Special Forces violently evicted Rapa Nui indigenous groups from the Government Plaza in the center of Hanga Roa over the holidays, causing injuries to at least nine people, three of them serious.
Venezuelan government devalued its bolivar currency for the second time in 12 months on Thursday, abolishing the lowest exchange rate as the Opec member fights to revive its economy. Intended to spur local production in the largely import-dependent nation, the announcement followed a central bank estimate that the economy contracted 1.9 percent during 2010 - Venezuela's second straight year of recession.
A magnitude-7.1 earthquake has shaken southern Chile, frightening hundreds of people who fled for higher ground fearing it could generate a tsunami like the one that ravaged the coastline last year.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a record number of 170 projects in 2010 totaling an estimated 12.9 billion USD, as the IDB continues to boost its efforts to help Latin American and Caribbean combat poverty and inequality, and promote sustainable growth.