MercoPress https://en.mercopress.com/ South Atlantic News Agency en Copyright 2026, MercoPress. https://en.mercopress.com/web/img/en/mercopress-logo.gif MercoPress http://en.mercopress.com/ <![CDATA[São Paulo stocks jump 8% and the real firms after Bolsonaro's first-round win]]> Bolsonaro won 47% of valid votes to Lula's 45%, and the two will face each other in the October 25 runoff Brazilian markets rallied sharply on Monday in response to the first round of the presidential election, in which Senator Flávio Bolsonaro finished ahead of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, contrary to what polls had predicted. The São Paulo Stock Exchange's Bovespa index rose as much as 8% in early trading, above 208,000 points.

]]> Mon, 05 Oct 2026 17:30:00 GMT <![CDATA[Falklands Chamber of Commerce backs the Punta Arenas route despite Argentine warnings]]> “Now we need to see this continue and see the ship at sea heading to the islands, and then we can start to talk about it being a success. Success comes when the goods arrive,” Summers said The president of the Falkland Islands Chamber of Commerce, Mike Summers, has defended reopening trade with Chile's Magallanes region despite Argentina's campaign against economic activity linked to the archipelago, and warned that this week's business meeting in Punta Arenas will only be a success once cargo starts crossing the sea.

]]> Sun, 04 Oct 2026 21:19:00 GMT <![CDATA[Punta Arenas and Falklands businesses hold more than 800 meetings]]> The event precedes a direct sea link using a Chilean-flagged vessel operated by Easter Island Naviera, which the company plans to launch between mid-November and the end of the year Business people from Punta Arenas, in southern Chile, and from the Falklands held 822 business meetings over two days, at an event the organisers described as a success and which serves as a prelude to the reopening of a direct sea route between the Chilean city and Stanley, planned for the coming months.

]]> Thu, 01 Oct 2026 21:33:00 GMT <![CDATA[Chile's defence minister backs trade between Punta Arenas and the Falklands]]> Asked how closer trade ties would fit with regional commitments, Barros said the “potentially most contentious” point is oil and mining exploration Chile's Defence Minister Fernando Barros Tocornal has backed the development of commercial activity between the Magallanes region and the Falklands, saying his country's support for Argentina's sovereignty claim does not imply restrictions on trade with the archipelago. He made the remarks in an interview with Radio Polar in Punta Arenas during a visit to the region on September 24 and 25.

]]> Tue, 29 Sep 2026 09:02:00 GMT <![CDATA[Milei denies a recession and says indicators are "throwing out anything"]]> Milei linked the economic difficulties to opposition initiatives in Congress and to security concerns Argentine President Javier Milei denied the country is in recession and questioned the reading of statistics showing rising poverty and falling economic activity. "The indicators are throwing out anything," he said on Sunday in an interview with journalist Luis Majul on the programme La Cornisa, on the LN+ channel.

]]> Tue, 29 Sep 2026 07:09:00 GMT <![CDATA[The Falklands economic development agency appoints Josh Smith as managing director]]> According to FIDC, Smith has built an international career over two decades, holding senior leadership positions in the UK Civil Service and previously working in Canada, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia The Falkland Islands Development Corporation, the archipelago's economic development agency, announced on Friday the appointment of Josh Smith as its new managing director, subject to final relocation arrangements. He will succeed Zachary Franklin, who will conclude his tenure in December.

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2026 21:35:00 GMT <![CDATA[Poverty in Argentina rises to 32.3%, ending two years of decline]]> The measurement covers the 31 urban agglomerations surveyed by the Permanent Household Survey, where 9,729,000 people fell below the poverty line and 2,249,000 below the extreme poverty line Poverty in Argentina reached 32.3% of people in the first half of 2026, an increase of 4.1 percentage points on the second half of 2025, the National Institute of Statistics and Census reported on Thursday. The figure interrupts the downward path the indicator had followed since mid-2024. Extreme poverty rose 1.2 points, from 6.3% to 7.5%.

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2026 10:26:00 GMT <![CDATA[UK public debt nears £3 trillion, equivalent to 93.8% of GDP]]> The figure is £78.5 billion higher than a year earlier, though its weight on the economy was 1.3 percentage points lower than in August 2025, reflecting a growing nominal GDP The United Kingdom's public sector net debt reached £2,985.5 billion — close to £3 trillion, some US$4 trillion — at the end of August, equivalent to 93.8% of gross domestic product, according to figures published on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics. The agency noted these are levels last seen in the early 1960s.

]]> Tue, 22 Sep 2026 10:40:00 GMT <![CDATA[Canada invites the UK to join its economic alliance with the European Union]]> “Why don't we team up?” the minister said, adding that “the world has changed. America has changed. So we need to change.” Canada's Finance Minister, François-Philippe Champagne, has proposed that the United Kingdom join the economic alliance Ottawa is negotiating with the European Union, in comments to the BBC. "We are independent and sovereign, but we are stronger together," he said. The British government has not publicly responded to the proposal.

]]> Mon, 21 Sep 2026 09:31:00 GMT <![CDATA[Two weeks to Brazilian presidential election, Central Bank cuts interest rate for the fifth time running]]> President Lula is neck-and-neck in election polls with conservative senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of jailed former right wing president Jair Bolsonaro With presidential elections in two weeks’ time, Brazil’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the fifth straight time. The bank lowered the so-called Selic rate from 14% to 13.75%, and is part of a cycle that began in March after almost two years of rate hikes.

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