Mercosur

• Tuesday, April 9th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF and Argentina closer

  Argentina and the IMF delegation currently in Buenos Aires agreed to find a monitoring and control mechanism to ensure that the targets of the “federal fiscal” pact and honored and provincial deficits are effectively reduced.

• Tuesday, April 9th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Contingency loan for Brazil

  The International Monetary Fund approved a 15 billion US dollars additional contingency loan for Brazil, following the satisfactory perfomance of the Brazilian economy, according to a release from the multilateral organization.

• Monday, April 8th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  US-Chile trade talks

  United States and Chile held this week in Santiago the eleventh round of talks in the framework of a future free trade agreement between both countries.

• Thursday, April 4th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Cavallo remains under arrest.

  Argentina's former Minister of Economy Domingo Cavallo remains under arrest after Judge Julio Speroni rejected an appeal by his lawyers. Mr. Cavallo was put under arrest last Wednesday in connection with a probe into illegal arms sales during the early nineties under the Carlos Menem administration when he occupied two different cabinet posts, Foreign Affairs and Economy.

• Wednesday, April 3rd 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Other options, please

  Uruguayan president Jorge Batlle in an official visit to Brazil warned that “times have changed” and this has forced Uruguay to look for other alternatives to Mercosur.

• Tuesday, April 2nd 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Still not good enough

  Faced with a new IMF delegation that insists on fiscal and foreign exchange discipline, the Argentine government imposed export duties, ranging between 10 and 20%, on agricultural commodities exports.

• Monday, April 1st 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Apathy and Lula lead Brazilian poll

  Three presidential hopefuls from the ruling Brazilian coalition for the October election are running a tight race but only one of them could in the second round confront Luiz Igancio Lula da Silva, the opposition candidate from the Socialist Workers Party who is leading in the polls with 25,9%, according to one of the latest polls released and published in the Brazilian media.

• Wednesday, March 27th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Fisheries most dynamic in Chile.

  Fisheries was the most dynamic sector of the Chilean economy in 2001, which overall grew 2,8% according to the latest figures released by the Chilean Central Bank.

• Monday, March 25th 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  IMF in April.Hyperinflation warning.

  An International Monetary Fund delegation will be arriving early April in Buenos Aires to continue working in a program to specifically boost exports and provide funds for social aid, according to Argentina officials, following a meeting of President Eduardo Duhalde with IMF Managing Director, Horst Koehler in Monterrey, Mexico.

• Friday, March 22nd 2002 - 21:00 UTC

  Chilean Armada looks to UK

  Chilean Navy Commander in Chief Admiral Miguel Angel Vergara said he was willing to discuss with the Royal Navy options for the Trident Program to replace most of the Chilean surface fleet.