LatinNews Daily - 17 April 2024

On 16 April Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo said adjustments should be made to the criteria for determining who should benefit from a financial support programme run by Panama’s institute for human resource training and development (Ifarhu) but it wasn't necessary to eliminate the scheme.... Read More

On 16 April amid rolling power cuts, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa declared a state of emergency, replaced his minister for energy & mining, and claimed his country was the victim of “sabotage”. ... Read More

*Venezuela’s unicameral legislature has authorised the executive to create a new oil company, Roraima SA, in what will be a joint venture between the state and private sector.... Read More

On 16 April Brazil’s 81-member senate approved a constitutional amendment proposal (PEC) to criminalise the possession of any quantity of any drug, which will proceed to be reviewed in the lower chamber of congress.... Read More

*The Confederação Nacional da Indústria (CNI), a national lobby group for Brazil’s industrial sector, has released its latest economic projections, showing an overall GDP growth forecast of 2.4% for 2024 and a 2.1% annual growth rate for the industrial sector.... Read More

*El Salvador’s economy minister, María Luisa Hayem, and China’s deputy minister of commerce and international trade negotiation representative, Wang Shouwen, have announced the official start of free trade agreement negotiations.... Read More

On 16 April presidents attending a virtual meeting of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) expressed support for Mexico in its ongoing dispute with Ecuador following its incursion into Mexico’s embassy in Quito on 5 April.... Read More

*Mexico’s labour ministry (STPS) has announced that it has accepted requests from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) to review the alleged denial of workers’ rights at two separate facilities.... Read More

On 16 April Argentina’s supreme court (CSJN) unanimously rejected two legal challenges to the mammoth decree of necessity and urgency (DNU) issued by President Javier Milei shortly after he took office in December last year.... Read More

*Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that “progress so far has been really impressive” in relation to the economic stabilisation plan being implemented by Argentina’s new right-wing government led by President Javier Milei.... Read More