Mercosur

• Monday, September 16th 2013 - 01:25 UTC

  Argentine official inflation 0.8% and 6.6% in eight months despite price agreements

  

  Argentina's Consumer Price Index (IPC) was of 0.8% in August, according to the INDEC statistics bureau, totalling 6.6% this year. Price hikes were mainly seen in food and beverage, household equipment and maintenance sectors. Meanwhile, entertainment costs went down in August.

• Monday, September 16th 2013 - 01:21 UTC

  Uruguay’s economy expands 5.6% in second quarter helped by hydroelectric production

  

  Uruguay's economy expanded 5.6% in the second quarter compared with the same period a year earlier and 2.1% compared with the first three months of this year, the central bank said in its quarterly report.

• Monday, September 16th 2013 - 01:19 UTC

  Cartes on a two-day visit to Pacific Alliance member Chile to promote trade and investments

  

  Paraguayan president Horacio Cartes begins on Monday a two-day visit to Chile where he is scheduled to meet his peer Sebastián Piñera and hold a round of talks with business people inviting them to invest in Paraguay. At the end of the month Cartes will be flying to Brasilia to meet President Dilma Rousseff.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 20:22 UTC

  Brazil forecasted to become the leading country in soybean production

  

  Brazil is to top the world soybean production league for the first time, thanks to the incentive to farmers provided from resilient prices and a weak Real, overtaking the US, whose hopes have been dented by drought.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 19:22 UTC

  The hurdles faced by Bachelet to achieve her promise of reforming Chilean education

  Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet legacy lives heavily in a country which has had a spectacular economic performance since the return of democracy, but remains lame in several social and political issues.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 19:15 UTC

  Latam’s cash transfer programs have proven more effective in combating poverty

  

  Latin America’s cash transfer programs are a more effective weapon against poverty and social inequality than economic growth alone, according to a study by two local economists.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 18:17 UTC

  Brazil and Argentina to coordinate cyber defense to address espionage challenge

  

  Argentine Defence Minister Agustín Rossi and his Brazilian counterpart Celso Amorim issued a joint statement with cyber-defence taking the centre stage of the bilateral agenda, during the official ceremony at the Libertador building, seat of the Defence ministry in Buenos Aires.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 18:11 UTC

  Merkel coalition leads a week ahead of national elections in Germany

  

  The opposition Social Democrats has gained slightly in the last pre-election opinion poll by German public broadcaster ARD. Their candidate, Peer Steinbrück has raised some eyebrows by raising one of his own digits in a weekly newspaper supplement.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 18:10 UTC

  China in ‘crucial’ restructuring stage, ‘much needed to sustain economic growth’

  

  China's economy is going through a “crucial” stage of restructuring, says the country's Premier, Li Keqiang. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in the Chinese port city of Dalian, Mr Li pledged to improve relations with foreign firms.

• Sunday, September 15th 2013 - 18:03 UTC

  Spain’s public debt hits a record high in June equal to 92.2% of GDP

  

  Spain's public debt reached a record high in June, the country's central bank said. The figure has risen to 942.8bn Euros, equal to 92.2% of the country's entire economic output, the bank said. This is nearly 15% higher than the same period last year and above the Spanish government's target limit of 91.4%, despite severe public spending cuts.