Colombia’s central bank said the economy’s faster-than-expected expansion isn’t generating inflationary pressure, according to the minutes of the June 18 policy meeting.
The seven-member board analyzed economic growth and inflationary expectations through next year as well as the European financial crisis before voting to keep the benchmark interest rate at 3 percent.
“The increase in exports, fueled by the recovery in global economic momentum and better terms of trade, confirms the build- up in the Colombian economy, as do other factors such as the increase in consumer and producer confidence, the increase in a number of leading indicators, and the soundness of the financial system,” the bank said in minutes posted on its website today.
The board, led by bank chief Jose Dario Uribe, noted that while annual inflation in May was above April’s level it was below the forecasts of the market and the bank. Colombia’s annual inflation rate was 2.07 percent in May, near the bottom of the central bank’s 2 percent to 4 percent target range. The June inflation report is scheduled to be released tomorrow.
South America’s fourth-biggest economy emerged from its first recession in a decade in the fourth quarter. In the first quarter of 2010, gross domestic product expanded 4.4 percent from the same period a year earlier. The government forecasts GDP will grow 3 percent this year.
European Crisis
The impact of the European crisis is “uncertain” and “it is worth noting that Latin American economies show an increasingly stronger recovery accompanied by a build-up in their currencies,” the bank said.
President-elect Juan Manuel Santos, who won the June 20 ballot, has promised annual growth of 6 percent in two years and pledged to create 2.4 million jobs. The former defense minister will replace Alvaro Uribe, who stands down Aug. 7.
Retail sales rose 7.9 percent in April from a year earlier, while industrial output grew 7.6 percent over the same period.
The peso strengthened 0.6 percent to 1886.90 per dollar at 12:48 p.m. New York time from 1898.60 yesterday.
Argentina bond risk fell the most in Latin America over the past three months as quickening economic growth and a $12.9 billion debt restructuring boosted confidence in the country’s ability to pay its debt.
Colombia’s central bank said the economy’s faster-than-expected expansion isn’t generating inflationary pressure, according to the minutes of the June 18 policy meeting.
Ecuador faces a “growth problem” and economic expansion won’t meet the government’s 6.8 percent estimate this year because of lower-than-forecast public spending, central bank President Diego Borja said.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reopened the first of 35 Cada brand supermarkets, previously majority-owned by France’s Casino Guichard Perrachon SA, as the state boosts its control over the distribution of food in an attempt to rein in spiraling inflation.
Colombia’s peso and dollar bonds rose for a fourth straight week on speculation former Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos will win the presidential election this weekend, attracting record foreign direct investment.
Peru will sign a letter of intent with Ecuador next week for an $800 million oil pipeline connection, Petroleos del Peru SA Chief Executive Officer Luis Rebolledo said.
Venezuela will prohibit brokerages from buying and selling government debt in bolivars as part of a new capital markets law to be presented next week, Ricardo Sanguino, president of the congressional finance committee said.
Spain lost its AAA credit grade at Fitch Ratings as Europe battles a debt crisis that’s prompted policy makers to forge an almost $1 trillion bailout package for the region’s weakest economies.
Brazil’s broadest measure of inflation rose at a the fastest pace in 22 months in May, boosting pressure on policy makers to raise their benchmark interest rate to prevent the economy from overheating.
Argentina may trigger trade wars with its biggest customers by limiting imports of French cheese, Italian ham and Brazilian corn to protect its food industry from foreign competition.
President Obama recently recognized World Trade Week. Despite this supposed display of support, Congress and President Obama have repeatedly refused opportunities to advance trade legislation.
After many years of apathy in the country, the insurrection exploded. The spontaneous revolt of “faceless” people meant saucepans were being banged in every neighborhood, all the way to the city’s vital centers. What happened to Argentina?
A second oil well Brazil is drilling as part of a plan to swap reserves for stock in state-run Petrobras may hold more than the 4.5 billion-barrel estimate of the recent Franco discovery, an official said.
BRF Brasil Foods SA, the world’s biggest poultry exporter, posted a first-quarter profit after revenue from Brazil doubled, and said sales growth in the Latin American country will continue to outpace Europe and the U.S.
Margarita Barrientos doesn’t need an economist to tell her Argentina’s inflation is higher than official reports. She just has to look at her shopping receipts and the growing line outside her Buenos Aires soup kitchen.
Venezuelan consumer prices srged the most in 7 years in April after the government raised price caps on basic foods and bolivar fell to record lows in the unregulated currency market.
Brazil’s benchmark borrowing costs slid below Russia´s for the first time this year as investors bet the South American country is less at risk of contagion from the Greek debt crisis than Eastern European nations.
The International Monetary Fund supports the adoption of a tax on capital inflows to stem the excessive appreciation of currencies in some Latin American economies.
Colombian Finance Minister Oscar Iván Zuluaga said he sees growing global acceptance for the use of short-term capital controls as a way to offset strong investment flows.
Brazil and other Latin American countries are disappointed the International Monetary Fund hasn’t moved more quickly to give emerging markets a bigger role at the fund, Brazil’s Finance Minister Guido Mantega said.
The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China will discuss broadening the array of world currencies used in international trade at their summit next week.
The United States and Brazil have reached an agreement aimed at settling a long-standing trade dispute over American subsidies to cotton growers, officials in both countries said Tuesday.
Colombia’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate for a fourth straight month as tame inflation lets policy makers focus on fueling the economy’s recovery.
Chile’s peso posted a third straight weekly decline as last month’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake crippled exports from a region that accounts for 13 percent of the country’s output.
Chilean President plans to tap copper savings funds and may borrow abroad to pay for the estimated $30 billion cost of repairing damage caused by the 8.8-magnitude earthquake.
Takeovers in Latin America are off to the best start in at least a decade, bucking a global slump, as economic recoveries in Brazil and Mexico spur consolidation in the telecommunications, food and commodities industries.
Securities shunned because of President Cristina Fernandez´s growing unpopularity and the country’s struggles in restructuring $20 billion of defaulted debt investors held out of a 2005 settlement.
Stocks rose around the world, driving the Emerging Markets Index higher for the first time in four days, on evidence of sustained economic expansion. Zinc led a rally in metals.
Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party vowed to increase the state’s role in the economy as Cabinet Chief Dilma Rousseff is set to be confirmed as the party’s presidential nominee.
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — Once a byword for kidnappings, bombs and chaos, Bogotá has become one of South America’s most attractive cities for foreigners to live and invest in.
Feb. 5 -- Brazilian consumer prices rose the most in 20 months in January, pushing the annual inflation rate above the central bank’s target and cementing bets that policy makers will raise interest rates as early as next month.
Feb. 5 -- Costa Rican bonds may outperform their Central American peers after an expected victory for ruling party candidate Laura Chinchilla in this weekend’s presidential elections, according to RBS Securities Inc. strategist Boris Segura.
Chiquita Brands, owner of the namesake banana label, must face a lawsuit accusing it of helping Marxist rebels in Colombia who murdered five American missionaries a decade ago.
Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Colombia’s consumer prices probably rose at the fastest pace in 11 months in January as a drought caused by the El Nino weather effect reduced crop production, pushing up food prices.
Brazil posted its first trade deficit in 12 months in January as faster economic growth in Latin America’s biggest economy helps boost imports and adds pressure on the currency.
WASHINGTON - The economy grew for a second straight quarter from October through December, posting a better-than-expected 5.7 percent annual rate, the fastest quarterly pace since 2003.
New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini said he’s never been more pessimistic about the future of European monetary union, saying Spain poses a looming threat to the euro region holding together.
Peru’s coffee exports may rise to a record this year as buyers including Starbucks boost purchases of the bean because of improving quality, the head of the Peruvian Coffee Chamber said.
Emerging-market stocks fell for a sixth day, the longest losing streak in a year, as concern deepened that inflation will prompt central banks to increase interest rates in the biggest developing nations.
Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s economy is “more sustainable” than China’s because its exports of raw materials from metals to crops make it more resilient, investor Mark Mobius said.
Mexico’s benchmark local bonds are poised for the biggest annual rally in four years after underperforming regional debt in 2009 as the economy recovers and the peso gains, Stone Harbor Investment Partners said.
The European Union is “on the verge” of resolving its 16-year-old dispute with Latin American countries over the bloc’s import tariffs on bananas, Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton said.
Brazil, South Korea, Russia and other developing nations are fighting a losing battle to mute gains in their currencies as a falling dollar and economic recovery create more demand for their assets than central banks can handle.
Nov. 13 -- The euro-area economy emerged from its worst recession since World War II in the third quarter as exports from Germany and France helped compensate for households’ reluctance to increase spending.
Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Executives from Mexico’s largest companies said tax increases President Felipe Calderón pushed through Congress will likely allow the country to avert a credit-rating downgrade.
Venezuela wants the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain production when the group meets in December, Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said.
Mexico’s dollar bonds are posting their biggest monthly declines since January on speculation President Calderon will fail to cut the budget gap enough to avoid a credit-rating downgrade.
Emerging-market currencies that have been appreciating as economies recover from a global recession may become volatile as markets overprice assets, Brazilian central bank President Henrique Meirelles said.
It's making imports and trips to Europe more expensive, but it's also making American products and visits to the U.S. cheaper for foreigners. It might just be the tonic the economy needs.
Cia energetica de Minas Gerais is interested in buying Endesa Brasil, a holding company controlled by Endesa SA that has stakes in Brazilian utilities Ampla Energia e Servicos SA and Cia. Energetica do Ceara, Veja said.
Plans to increase the influence of developing nations at the International Monetary Fund don’t go far enough, Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantenga said after meeting with his so-called BRIC counterparts.
As a tourism-dependent Caribbean struggles to stay afloat amid the global financial crisis, an increasing number of nations are forging fresh ties with unexpected allies.
Brazilian stocks rallied, making the Bovespa the world’s best-performing major index today, and the currency gained after Rio de Janeiro was awarded the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, luring investment to the country.
Brazil´s initial public offerings may double next year as the stock market extends its best rally in six years and growth in Latin America’s largest economy accelerates, according to Bank of America Corp.
Argentina, the world’s second- largest corn exporter, lifted a ban on overseas shipments of corn and wheat, making good on a Sept. 10 pledge by President Cristina Fernandez.
Chile’s gross domestic product will increase 5 percent next year, Finance Minister Andrés Velasco said today as he announced his final budget ahead of elections in December.
Latin America and the Caribbean’s recovery from the region’s first recession since 1983 should “gather moderate speed” in the coming months, led by Brazil, the International Monetary Fund said in a report.
The International Monetary Fund forecast that the world economy would expand 3.1 percent next year, after a 2009 in which much of the world struggled through a recession.
The worst of the financial crisis is over for Latin America, a region poised to recover, thanks to the extraordinary dynamism of the Brazilian economy, said Augusto de la Torre, the World Bank's chief economist for Latin America.
Sept. 25 -- European nations are resisting the transfer of more power to emerging markets at the IMFas Group of 20 leaders try to ensure its voting structure better reflects the world economy.
Brazilian companies are prepared to step up international takeovers as the domestic economy recovers from a recession and the local currency gains, according to Rothschild, the country’s top mergers and acquisitions adviser.
Leaders from the Group of 20 are approaching an agreement that would give more power at the International Monetary Fund to developing countries judged to be underrepresented, two officials from G-20 nations said.
Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. recovery may be the slowest since World War II to regain all the ground lost during the recession, even if economists’ more optimistic forecasts for expansion turn out to be right.
Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Global mining mergers and acquisitions, down more than 50 percent this year, are set to recover in the first quarter as metal prices surge on signs the worst recession since World War II is easing.
Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) -- World leaders gathering in Pittsburgh this month may take the biggest step to curbing the pay and profits of bankers after their economic policy makers narrowed differences over bonuses and capital rules.
The International Monetary Fund plans to adjust its global growth forecast to “just below” 3 percent for 2010, a senior economist at the lender said, higher than its prediction in July.
Brazil’s Agriculture Minister Reinhold Stephanes said the country should raise import tariffs on some U.S. products to retaliate against aid to American cotton producers.
Sept. 2 - BP Plc- Europe’s second-largest oil company, reported a “giant” discovery at the Tiber Prospect in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico that may contain more than 3 billion barrels, sending its shares higher.
Aug. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Argentina’s stock exchange called on the government to lift capital controls that caused it to become the only major Latin America market classified as “frontier,” adding the move may help lure $10 billion in foreign investment.
Mexico’s Bolsa stock index is beating benchmarks in the rest of North America as the largest companies increase sales even as the nation contends with its worst recession since the 1930s.
Brazil’s economy will expand 3.8 percent next year, compared with a previous forecast of 3.6 percent a week earlier, according to the median forecast in a Aug. 14 central bank survey of about 100 economists published.
WASHINGTON -- As Wall Street rebounds and the U.S. economy shows other signs of life, stock prices in the world's four largest developing economies have climbed even faster.
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil is beginning to pull out of an economic dive triggered by the global financial crisis, but it's not the country's vaunted soybean, meat and iron ore exports that are powering the turnaround of the world's ninth-largest economy.
July 31 -- Argentina’s government ruled out pleas by the country’s main farm association to cut agriculture export taxes after the worst drought in 70 years curbed profits.
July 31 -- Mexico’s economy probably shrank the most in three decades last quarter as the global recession and the outbreak of swine flu curbed industrial output and fueled job losses, the finance ministry said.
July 24 (Bloomberg) -- The world’s two biggest initial public offerings this year are from China and Brazil, reflecting the “growing power” of the so-called BRIC nations, said Barton Briggs, who runs New York-based hedge fund Traxis Partners LP.
HAVANA, July 9 (Reuters) - Brazil said it would give Cuba up to $300 million in credits to start rebuilding the island's port of Mariel, better known as the site of a 1980 Cuban exodus to the United States.
Leaders of club of eight industrialized nations open up their forum to the five fastest developing market economies - Brazil, China, India, Mexico and South Africa - tacit admission that their leadership alone is not enough to fix the world's major problems.
July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian stocks fell for a sixth day, the longest losing streak since October, on concern that a drop in commodity prices will reduce the profit outlook for raw- material producers.
July 2 -Brazil’s industrial output posted its fifth straight monthly gain, even as production trails levels reached a year ago, cementing bets that Latin America’s largest economy is recovering from its first recession since 2003.
June 3 -- Developing countries’ share of worldwide equity value climbed to a record as the fastest- growing economies lured stock investors amid the first global recession since World War II.
China’s economy will grow 8 percent this year and achieve more than 9 percent annual expansion in 2011, said Cheng Siwei, former vice chairman of the standing committee of the National People’s Congress.
WASHINGTON -- Developing countries' net private capital inflows fell 41% last year and will be cut nearly in half this year, the World Bank said in a report that offers little hope that the countries will provide the spark for the global economic engine.
JBS sa, the world’s biggest beef producer, said it isn’t involved in an alleged beef-industry graft scheme under investigation in Brazil, following a police raid at one of its offices.
June 16 - Brazil’s biggest sugar-cane processors, may benefit from increased sugar exports after Citigroup Inc. said a global supply deficit will push up prices.
June 16 -- Venezuela’s National Assembly passed a law that will put all primary chemicals factories in the hands of government-controlled joint ventures.
Wire transfers keep crime cartels and human smugglers in the money, officials say. Arizona's attorney general wants Western Union to cooperate more fully with investigations.
Brazil’s benchmark bond yields rose the most in seven weeks after the economy contracted less than economists forecast in the first quarter, spurring speculation the central bank may slow the pace of interest-rate cuts.
MEXICO CITY — The amount of money sent home in April by Mexicans working in the United States fell by almost one-fifth compared with a year earlier, the central bank said Monday, marking the largest decline since the authorities began keeping track of such transfers.
The following events and economic reports may influence trading in Latin American local bonds and currencies. Bond yields and exchange rates are from the previous session.
Emerging-market bonds are headed for their biggest three-month rally in seven years, led by Argentina and Ukraine, as higher commodities prices and international bailouts improve the outlook for the nations to repay debts.
The following events and economic reports may influence trading in Latin American local bonds and currencies. Bond yields and exchange rates are from the previous day’s session.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil´s national oil company, Petrobras, has come under scrutiny in an investigation that threatens to complicate government efforts to wring more revenue from the deepwater oil fields that are expected to transform the country into a global energy power.
-- Venezuelan Finance Minister Ali Rodriguez said that OPEC is seeking an oil price of $70 a barrel in order to maintain new investments in the industry.
Brazilian central bank President Herique Meirelles said investors should avoid “excess euphoria” as Latin America’s largest economy shows “very clear signs” of recovery.
Brazil’s so-called pre-salt area may contain about 50 billion barrels of oil, enough to place the nation among the world’s top 10 holders of crude reserves, said the head of the ptroleum regulator.
Brazilian stocks gained for a third day, capping the Bovespa index’s longest weekly winning streak in three years, as the government’s stimulus plan boosted demand for homebuilders and commodity prices rose.
Mexican retail sales had their biggest decline in almost 13 years in February as job losses, lower remittances and a shrinking economy sapped consumer activity.
April 22 (Bloomberg) -- The IMF said the global recession will be deeper and the recovery slower than previously thought as financial markets take longer to stabilize.
Cia. Vale do Rio Doce, the world’s biggest iron ore miner, can reach its forecasts because of rising demand for commodities from emerging markets such as China and India, Chief Financial Officer Fabio Barbosa said.
An Atlantic Ocean storm is forecast to blow winds averaging 17.6 miles an hour across the peninsula. Lighter breezes, at 13.6 miles an hour, were enough to set the previous record output three weeks earlier. The extra supply then cut power prices 11 percent.
MADRID — The number of unemployed people in Spain rose by nearly 200,000 in January, the fastest monthly increase in more than a decade, as companies struggling with declining sales and the tight credit markets laid off workers or sought bankruptcy protection.
Uruguay's consumer prices rose at the fastest annual pace in more than four years in January as a worsening drought pushed up food and beverage costs, outweighing declines in transportation and communication.
Jan. 30 -- Brazilian President Lula raised the minimum wage by 12 percent starting next month, a move the government said will increase incomes of more than 20 percent of the population.
The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela pledged Saturday to invest $100 million each in a special fund in hopes of boosting cross-border trade as the world economic crisis slashes global demand for their exports.
Petroleo Brasileiro, Brazil's government-controlled oil company, said state loans will help finance a $28.6 billion spending plan this year aimed at developing the Americas' largest discovery in three decades.
President Evo Morales announced that the government will take full control of Empresa Petrolera Chaco SA, a Bolivian subsidiary of the British company BP, after talks to purchase a majority share of the company failed to produce a deal.
BOGOTA -- New government figures show that Colombians living abroad are sending less money to their home country - though it's too early to say if it's a trend.
SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Brazil's Labor Ministry says the country lost 654,000 jobs in December as the international financial crisis slammed Latin America's largest economy.
Ecuador has reached an agreement with business leaders to cut imports by $1.5 billion to help defend the South American country's use of the dollar as legal tender, President Correa said.
Jan. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian President Lula da Silva plans to invest $1.1 billion to develop Bolivia's natural-gas reserves as the Andean nation struggles to meet supply contracts to Brazil and Argentina.
(Bloomberg) -- Sales of single-family houses in the U.S. dropped in November by the most in two decades and resale prices collapsed at a pace reminiscent of the Great Depression, dashing speculation the market was close to a bottom.
Ecuador announced that it would default on a second foreign-debt interest payment, bringing to more than $60 million the amount it is now refusing to pay lenders.
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Most Brazilian stocks rose as falling unemployment bolstered speculation Latin America's biggest economy may withstand the worst of the credit crisis.
Nov. 19 -- Ecuador's Finance Minister Maria Elsa Viteri urged ``anxious'' bondholders to be patient as a debt auditing commission finishes a report that will help determine whether the country honors its foreign obligations.
Many environmentalists and residents say the explosive growth in pineapple production in Costa Rica has outpaced the government's ability to regulate it.
Latin American countries rejected in late July the special safeguard mechanism of the World Trade Organization (WTO), saying it damages their export interests.
President Hugo Chávez' economic stimulus package offers an Olive Branch to business leaders by introducing currency controls and eliminating a 1.5 percent tax on financial transactions for businesses.
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Grain crushers have extended a two-year-old moratorium on the purchase of soybeans planted in areas of the Amazon rain forest cut down after 2006, Brazil's environment minister said.
In a report to the court, the expert, Richard Cabrera, who is a geologist, said the low end of the range represented the cost to remediate soils and pay for health care costs, a water system and infrastructure improvements.
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil lifted tariffs on wheat imported from countries outside of the Mercosur trade bloc in a bid to stem inflation, Valor Economico reported.
Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Nicaragua's commerce minister said the Sandinista government will try to reach a ``consensus'' with food producers to curb rising prices that fuel inflation.
The oil giant ExxonMobil has won court orders freezing as much as $12 billion in petroleum assets controlled by Venezuela's government in an escalation of a dispute over efforts by President Chávez to assert greater control over the country's oil industry.
Rich in copper and with enviable macroeconomic stability, investment-grade credit ratings and dramatic poverty reduction in the past two decades, Chile has become used to being top of the South American class.
Secretary of State Rice wrapped up a two-day visit with a strong show of support for President Uribe, a close ally of the Bush administration who is seeking a trade agreement with the United States.
Brazil's central bank will probably keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a third straight meeting as policy makers gauge whether an acceleration in inflation is temporary.
Emerging-market bonds fell, led by Argentine debt, as investors doubted whether the Federal Reserve's emergency rate cut would stave off a recession in the U.S. economy.
The Brazilian airline TAM said it had signed a contract to buy 46 Airbus jets, including 22 extra-wide-body A350s. The European-made A350 is a rival to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The Brazilian state oil company said it had discovered a natural gas reserve off the coast of Rio de Janeiro that could be as big as the recently discovered giant Tupi oil field.
When I asked senior World Bank economist Marcelo M. Giugale in a recent television interview which countries will be the economic stars of Latin America over the next 20 years, I was surprised by his answer. The first country he mentioned was Peru.
The U.S. dollar slumped to another record low against the euro and a 26-year low against the British pound Wednesday, even as it approached Civil War-era lows against the Canadian currency, the ``loonie.''
WASHINGTON -- Ending a yearlong hiatus by Congress on free trade agreements, the House is poised to approve a deal with Peru, possibly Thursday, giving supporters hope that they will gain momentum for more difficult deals down the road.
HAVANA, Nov. 11 — A trade fair in Communist Cuba is perhaps the last place you would expect to find a Republican governor from the American heartland. Yet last week, Gov. Dave Heineman of Nebraska was here to sign a deal to export $11 million worth of his state's wheat to the island.
The landslide victory of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the wife of Nestor Kirchner,Argengtina´s current president, seemed to signal that the Peronist party was back and stronger than ever. But the way she won the presidency and the economic challenges she faces will prove a stiff test of her abilities to keep the couple in power.
The idea by Hugo Chávez , Venezuela's president, to create a Bank of the South to finance regional development projects is moving forward, aided by the tacit approval of Brazil, which has South America's largest economy.
Sept. 25 — A trade pact between the United States and Peru won bipartisan support in a crucial Congressional committee Tuesday, signaling that some Democrats will be receptive to new trade deals as long as they call on other nations to adhere to international labor and environmental standards.
New Yorkers, like most Americans, pay precious little attention to what happens in Canada, that large, sparsely populated region with the chronically inferior currency.
SAN JOSÉ, — More than 100,000 Costa Ricans, some dressed as skeletons, protested a United States trade pact on Sunday that they said would flood their country with cheap farm goods and cause job losses.
President Hugo Chavez's efforts to curb the influence of the United States in the developing world range from creating a leftist television network for Latin America to selling cheap oil to his allies, but few of his projects were begun as enthusiastically as the Bank of the South.
President Hugo Chavez on Sunday touted a pact that is delivering fuel to 17 nations, calling it a tool against poverty and dismissing accusations that he is giving away Venezuela's oil wealth.
