Trade among members of the Latin American Integration Association (ALADI) is forecast to reach $74 billion this year, up 24 percent from 2004.
An ALADI report shows that “during the first nine months of 2005, trade among association members remains steady, although at a more modest rate than in 2004, which was a historic year with 37 percent. Anyhow, the trade flow increase in this period is 26,5 percent which is significant”.
Brazil´s central bank cut the benchmark lending rate to a nine-month low last week in a bid to shore up an economic expansion.
The nine-member board led by central bank President Henrique Meirelles lowered the benchmark overnight rate by half a percentage point to 18.5 percent. The rate slash is the third since September, when industrial output rose at its slowest pace in more than two years.
Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo raised the forecast for economic growth in 2005 to 7 percent, a percentage point higher than the previous estimate, as exports of copper, gold and fishmeal surge.
The pace of expansion will make Peru the world´s sixth- fastest growing emerging-market economy, Toledo told Lima-based radio station Radioprogramas last week.
Intercontinental Hotels Group has reported a nearly 15 percent fall in third-quarter operating profits. The group operating profit skidded from £102 million to £87 million, due to disposals of owned hotels.
The group said its outlook for the full year was positive and promised more cash for shareholders.
Economic growth in much of Latin America and the Caribbean remains strong, reports the World Bank. In a new report released November 16, the bank said the strong growth reflects the region´s “supportive external conditions” and an improved “domestic policy environment.”
Despite a more moderate rate of expansion, economic activity is well above the 2.5 average growth rate in the region of the preceding 20 years, the bank said.
Venezuela´s economy grew for an eighth quarter in the July-through-September period as President Hugo Chavez boosted government spending, targeting the poor with subsidies on food and medical services, and doling out scholarships for literacy classes and job training.
Gross domestic product, the broadest measure of a country´s production of goods and services, expanded 9.8 percent in the third quarter from the year-earlier period after growing 8.8 percent in the first half, the central bank said in a statement.