BRAZIL | Agroindustry growth sharply down. Agroindustrial production in the first half of this year grew by only 1.5%, after having clocked 8.9% growth in January-June 2002 and 8.4% in the whole of last year. This said, agroindustry far outshone the average growth for industry as a whole, which was only 0.1% in the first half. The most dynamic lines were soya oil (with exports up 108%) and frozen pork (up 69%).
ARGENTINA | Savings up, investment not as much. Argentines increased their savings by 45% last year, to US$5.6bn, but only devoted 62.5% of that to investment: the rest went to paying off debts or what the authorities are euphemistically describing as `safekeeping outside the financial system'. Argentina's investment-to-GDP ratio last year was 12%, down from 14.2% in 2001. The savings-to-GDP ratio was 19.6%, up from 14% the previous year.
PARAGUAY | Partial debt restructuring. Recently installed President Nicanor Duarte says that one of his top priorities will be the renegotiation of `some maturities' of Paraguay's public debt. Falling due in the remainder of this year is US$62.4m of external debt and US$89.4m of domestic debt. The scope for restructuring is confined to that portion of the debt owed to some banks and governments.
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