Latin America: Making The Good Times Bette

Latin America has enjoyed tremendous economic dynamism and a rising quality of life in recent years. But, faced with new challenges, the question is: how best to sustain this progress?

As I travel through the region next week—visiting Panama, Uruguay, and Brazil—I'm looking forward to hearing the views of government officials, parliamentarians, and university students on the key challenges facing their countries today. Here are three questions that I look forward to discussing during my trip.

Brazil's tax revenue hits record high for January

BRASILIA, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Brazil posted record tax collection for January on the back of healthy industrial production and retail sales, the federal tax authority said on Wednesday.

Tax revenue in January, adjusted for inflation, jumped to 91.1 billion reais ($54.3 billion) an increase of 15.3 percent from a year earlier. Tax revenue in December totaled 90.9 billion reais.

Venezuela: stuttering back to growth

It is hard not to shed a tear for Venezuela. Latin America’s largest oil producer on Tuesday confirmed that it had pulled off the remarkable feat of contracting 1.4 per cent during a year in which oil prices rallied.

That was the second consecutive year of negative growth for Venezuela – in 2009, the country led by socialist President Hugo Chávez shrank 3.3 per cent – and it comes as the rest of Latin America is rebounding strongly from the global recession of two years ago.

Mexico's Economy Expands at Fastest Pace in a Decade as Growth Hits 5.5%

Mexico’s gross domestic product expanded last year at the fastest pace in a decade as Latin America’s second-biggest economy recovered from a 2009 recession provoked by the global financial crisis.

GDP, the broadest measure of a country’s output of goods and services, grew 5.5 percent last year, the most since 2000, the national statistics agency said on its website. GDP expanded 4.6 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier. The economy was forecast to grow 4.4 percent in the final quarter, according to a survey of 13 analysts by Bloomberg.

Mexico's Economy Expands at Fastest Pace in a Decade as Growth Hits 5.5%

Mexico’s gross domestic product expanded last year at the fastest pace in a decade as Latin America’s second-biggest economy recovered from a 2009 recession provoked by the global financial crisis.

GDP, the broadest measure of a country’s output of goods and services, grew 5.5 percent last year, the most since 2000, the national statistics agency said on its website. GDP expanded 4.6 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier. The economy was forecast to grow 4.4 percent in the final quarter, according to a survey of 13 analysts by Bloomberg.

Obama has broad agenda in Latin America trip, Brazil key

President Barack Obama will pursue a broad agenda when he makes a five-day trip to three Latin American nations in March, soon after Treasury Sec. Timothy Geithner traveled to the largest economy in the region, Brazil, to lay the groundwork for the President's trip.

Obama will be meeting new Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff for the first time since she took office for outgoing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Yabrud's Products Reach Latin America's Markets

Damascus Countryside, (SANA) _ Like several industrial centers in Damascus Countryside, Yabrud City has started as a housing agricultural compound meeting all of its requirements through manufacturing the suitable tools for the handicrafts mastered by its people.

Later, the City turned into an industrial and commercial center which has attracted all the surrounding housing compounds as the commodities produced by Yabrud has started to be exported to several countries, particularly the Latin American ones.