Mercosur

• Friday, May 23rd 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner will take office before Congress

  Breaking with history incoming Argentine president Nestor Kirchner will be taking office Sunday May 25 in Congress and not as traditionally in the country's Government House, Casa Rosada, world known for the balconies from where Juan Domingo and Evita Peron addressed the masses assembled in Plaza de Mayo.

• Thursday, May 22nd 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Encouraging signs for Mercosur .

  Mercosur delegates received an encouraging sign this week when Chris Patten the European Union Foreign Affairs Commissar admitted that discussions for a trade agreement between EU and the South American block could conclude before the end of 2003.

• Thursday, May 22nd 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Slower growth for US economy.

  Prospects for the United States economy remain uncertain even after the end of the Iraq war, and the recovery momentum is still in doubt, indicated the US Federal Reserve president Alan Greenspan addressing a Congressional committee this week.

• Thursday, May 22nd 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Orthodoxy and IMF win the day.

  In spite of strong pressure and after two long days of deliberations, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Brazilian Central Bank, Copom, stood firm and kept the basic interest rate, Selic, unchanged at 26,5%.

• Wednesday, May 21st 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner names cabinet, Bielsa in Foreign Affairs.

  Argentine elected president Nestor Kirchner, 53, announced this Tuesday in Rio Gallegos, Santa Cruz, a cabinet of moderates that includes trusted political friends from Patagonia, his sister, independent political allies and a few men loyal to outgoing caretaker president Eduardo Duhalde.

• Wednesday, May 21st 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF top marks for president Lula

  Anne Krueger the International Monetary Fund, IMF, First Deputy Managing Director congratulated Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for his management of the economy and efforts to reform the tax and social security systems.

• Wednesday, May 21st 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Lavagna praises Ms. Anne Krueger.

  Argentine Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna praised the “intellectual honesty” of International Monetary Fund, IMF, First Deputy Managing Director Anne Krueger, who changed her opinion regarding the evolution of the Argentine economy.

• Tuesday, May 20th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  US Senate approves tax reduction.

  The United States Senate finally approved last Thursday a 350 billion US dollars tax cut presented by the White House in an attempt to pull the US economy out of its anemic condition. However the ten year proposal passed the higher House with a tight 51-49 majority and now faces a conference with the House of Representatives that approved a 550 billion US dollars cut, more in line with the original President Bush proposal of 726 billion.

• Tuesday, May 20th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  G 8 recommends optimism.

  Meeting for the first time since the end of the Iraq war, the Finance Ministers of the seven richest industrialized countries, plus Russia, the G 8, expressed their confidence in the world's economy recovery and recommended long term reforms both for rich and poor nations. The meeting took place in Deauville, north of France in preparation for the G 7 summit scheduled in two weeks time in Evian.

• Tuesday, May 20th 2003 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner cabinet choice to reveal clues.

  Néstor Kirchner, Argentina's president-in-waiting, was on Monday putting the finishing touches to his executive cabinet, which he is expected to unveil on Wednesday, four days before he takes power.