But for Mexico’s fans, the country’s disappointing first quarter GDP figures must still have been a hard pill to swallow. The economy expanded just 0.8 per cent in the first three months of this year, well below the 3.2 per cent growth it saw in the previous quarter and below the 1.2 per cent increase the market was expecting.

It was, in a nutshell, the weakest performance since Q4 of 2009.

Managing Argentina’s de facto multiple exchange rates is itself a fine art. But now art itself, among other things, has suddenly become cheap – provided people don’t use the official rate.

So now the country’s leftwing president, Rafael Correa, is pushing for a new law to fast track mining contracts and investments in the Andean country.

Officials were unable to confirm the names of any of the companies involved or any details of what sort of agreements may be signed beyond that they would be “commercial” agreements.

But as the country develops, that seems to be changing. Parents are increasingly keen to get their children out of the house and into productive activities. India’s summer camp industry is expected to be worth Rs10bn ($179.9m) by the 2017-2018 year, up from Rs4bn today, according to Assocham, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India.

Central Bank Governor Henry Kofi Wampah noted risks to economic growth arising in part from tightened credit, but decided the weakening of the currency was the bigger threat.

* China’s bird flu outbreak cost $6.5bn

* India takes steps to rein in algos

* Beijing promises to get tough on heath food industry

But don’t pop the champagne just yet. While the deals got done, they did so with a lot of legwork. And its too early to tell whether they will ultimately offer much reward for investors.

The recently-reformed CFDA has promised a five-month campaign from May to September to crack down on illegal activity in the health food industry, part of a broader drive by authorities to stamp out corruption and unethical business practices.

India’s financial market regulator is trying to bring them further under control. As of May 27, algorithmic trading systems in the country will be audited every six months and stock exchanges will have powers to suspend and penalise traders who don’t take action to ensure their systems comply with requirements.

His latest action in this direction came on Tuesday with his industrial conglomerate, Grupo Carso, exiting its investment in Philip Morris México (PMM). Carso agreed to sell its remaining 20 per cent stake for $700m to Philip Morris International (PMI), which becomes sole owner of PMM.

As the head of NYC & Company, New York City’s official tourism board, Fertitta has witnessed the meteoric rise of Brazilian visitors to the Big Apple. Last year, Brazil became the second most important overseas market for the city after the UK: 826,000 Brazilians came to visit, compared with 112,000 in 2006.

“We have never seen anything like it,” said Fertitta. “We have had big surges in visitors from Ireland but the surge from Brazil is unique in scale.”

By Andrew Rosati in Caracas

For a country where consumers are often hard-pressed to find staples like milk or toilet paper, Venezuela certainly has no shortage of scandals. After last month’s accusations of electoral fraud and a saloon-style brawl in congress, now Mario Silva, a TV talk show host, rabble-rouser and the best journalist in Venezuela – according to the late president, Hugo Chávez – has fallen into the fray.

In an extraordinary hour-long recording of what opposition politicians say is a conversation between Silva and a top Cuban intelligence official, the chavista broadcaster delivers a laundry list of backbiting and corruption at the highest levels of chavismo. Venezuelans are wondering what will come next.

The earliest the 14 can return to the trading floor is Thursday – if they get their paperwork in no later than the end of Tuesday.

By Erik Berglof of the EBRD

The latest forecasts show that central Asia and the Caucasus are again the fastest-growing economies in the former Communist countries of eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union.

Yet, given the low level of income and relatively high population growth of these countries, the numbers are disappointing. On closer inspection growth is also narrow, mainly stemming from natural resources and remittances from citizens working abroad; countries less endowed with resources are doing worse. Economic reforms are mostly stuck, as are, with a few exceptions, political reform.

Pimco, the US-based manager with $2.04tn in assets under management worldwide, said in a report released in Hong Kong on Tuesday that more oil and gas companies in Asia would tap the bond market, often to finance acquisitions outside the region as they come to terms with energy shortages caused by declining indigenous resources and increasing domestic consumption.