Brazil's Central Bank President Alexandre Tombini said on Tuesday that default rates on loans are rising, Reuters reported. Tombini, speaking at a congressional hearing, did not give further details. Consumer credit has risen rapidly in Brazil in recent years, fueling an economic boom, but some analysts have voiced concern that default rates could rise this year as the economy cools and interest rates rise. Read more.

Argentina's flagship airline, Aerolineas Argentinas, has asked the courts to lift a 10-year-old legal measure shielding it from creditors after the company managed to restructure its debts, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In a statement, the airline said it has paid 99.3% of the outstanding debts related to the court-ordered protection from creditors. Argentina seized Aerolineas Argentinas from Spanish tourism company Grupo Marsans in 2009 and has since pumped money into the airline to expand and update its fleet.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, on a visit Monday to Latin America's biggest economy, urged Brazilian officials to help the U.S. pressure China to allow its currency to appreciate, The Wall Street Journal reported. Though officials in public shied away from specifics of any plan to coordinate calls for a stronger yuan, a person familiar with the discussions said Brazil and the U.S. may speak with a common voice on the issue in a coming meeting of the Group of 20 major economies.

Argentina's largest electricity provider, Pampa Energia SA, said Monday it will pay $29 million to acquire Enron Pipeline Company Argentina SA, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. "The purchase is part of Pampa's broader plan to become an important player in Argentina's natural gas industry," a person familiar with the company's plans said. The pipeline company owns 10% of Compania de Inversiones de Energia SA, or Ciesa, which controls 55.3% of the gas distributor Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA, or TGS.

A bankruptcy judge cleared Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to sell its Brazil investment business, Libro Companhia Securitizadora de Creditos Financeiros, for nearly $15.9 million, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Judge James Peck of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, approved of the sale Wednesday to a firm called Jive Investments Holding Ltd. In his order, Peck said that Jive's offer was the "highest and best" available and that the sale was in the best interest of Lehman and its creditors.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is seeking court approval to sell its Brazil investment business, Libro Companhia Securitizadora de Creditos Financeiros, to a firm called Jive Investments Holding Ltd., Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Jive, which is based in the British Virgin Islands, will buy Lehman's equity stake and notes in Libro, which maintains portfolios of fixed income, distressed and loan assets. The sale price is nearly $15.9 million, after Jive outbid an unidentified competitor. Lehman is asking Judge James Peck of the U.S.

The Group of 20 is beginning to look more like the G19 plus 1 as emerging and rich countries alike accuse the United States of breaking a vow of unity, Reuters reported. This week's G20 summit will require every bit of President Barack Obama's diplomacy skills after the Federal Reserve embarked on a new $600 billion bond-buying spree, sparking criticism from four continents that the U.S. central bank was ignoring the global repercussions.

Argentina's national gas regulator, Enargas, has again extended its intervention in Transportadora de Gas del Norte SA, or TGN, one of Argentina's leading gas distribution companies, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The extension will last for another 45 days, according to a statement TGN sent to the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange late Tuesday. Last year TGN said it would restructure $347 million in debt.

Peru's government bankruptcy agency, Indecopi, said Tuesday it has officially opened an investigation into Doe Run Peru's financial situation, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. An Indecopi spokeswoman said creditors have 30 days as of Monday to file credit recovery paperwork. The government has taken a hard line against the company in recent weeks, saying it would start the legal and regulatory process of removing Doe Run's ownership of the plant in the town of La Oroya.

Youth unemployment across the world has climbed to a new high and is likely to climb further this year, a United Nations agency said Thursday, while warning of a “lost generation” as more young people give up the search for work, The New York Times reported. The agency, the International Labor Organization, said in a report that of some 620 million young people ages 15 to 24 in the work force, about 81 million were unemployed at the end of 2009 — the highest level in two decades of record-keeping by the organization, which is based in Geneva.