Sugar rises on Brazil supply concern
25 de setembro de 2009Most Latin American economies are on the rebound
29 de setembro de 2009Seven South American nations on Saturday signed an agreement to create a Bank of the South with startup capital of $20 billion.
The development bank has been touted by socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a counterweight to U.S.-influenced international lenders and the region’s finance ministers in May agreed to fund it with $7 billion.
Leaders including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez formally signed on to the pact and announced that the starting capital would be $20 billion.
“We’re signing (the agreement) tonight so that we can get started,” Chavez said.
It was unclear how much each country would contribute, but under the previous $7 billion figure announced in May, Argentina, Venezuela and Brazil were to have each pledged $2 billion, while Uruguay, Ecuador, Paraguay and Bolivia were to have chipped in smaller amounts.
Chavez also offered to help create a “South-South bank” with African countries in the future.
