Economy & Business - June 2024

Ever since its foundation over seven decades ago, Brazil’s state-run oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) has been a political football for the country’s leaders, each seeking to tap into the vast resources of Latin America’s largest energy company.... Read More

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced on 31 May that it has approved a four-year, US$4bn arrangement with Ecuador under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF).... Read More

As if a full-blown war against criminal gangs wasn’t enough of a challenge for the world’s youngest elected leader, since April Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa has been grappling with an energy crisis that exacerbated the country’s economic challenges and helped erode the president’s high approval rating.... Read More

VENEZUELA | Investment agreement with China.... Read More

With the longest continuous democracy, one of the highest per capita incomes, and among the lowest poverty rates in Latin America, Uruguay for some time has stood out amongst its peers in the region.... Read More

The waters from the most devastating flooding in Brazilian history have largely receded, but the physical damage and the financial cost from the floods in Rio Grande do Sul will weigh on the regional and even national economy for years to come.... Read More

After lengthy negotiations, Brazil and Paraguay have reached an agreement on the price and distribution of electricity generated by the binational Itaipú hydroelectric complex.... Read More

CHILE | Codelco and SQM sign lithium deal.... Read More

On 23 May international credit ratings agency Moody’s upgraded El Salvador, but worries over the economy are growing in the country amid rising poverty rates.... Read More

Officials in both Costa Rica and Honduras recognised electricity problems in May as high temperatures and lower rainfall caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon affected supplies.... Read More

President Luis Abinader was re-elected on 19 May to a second four-year term with a comfortable 58% of the vote.... Read More

On 15 May the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published one of its regular Article IV assessments of the Belize economy.... Read More

REGION | Full entry into effect of Central America-European Union (EU) Association Agreement.... Read More

Power outages across Mexico in early May caused by a surge in electricity demand amid some of the hottest temperatures in more than 20 years have exposed the critical state of the country’s energy sector.... Read More

Although Mexico’s economy has enjoyed enviable stability since recovering from the Tequila crisis in the mid-1990s, the pace of growth has remained relatively disappointing.... Read More

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Guatemala’s President Bernardo Arévalo agreed to deepen cooperation on infrastructure and trade at a meeting on 17 May.... Read More

On 28 May US construction firm Vulcan Materials released a statement condemning the Mexican government for its continued shutdown of its deepwater port and limestone quarry in Quintana Roo state.... Read More

MEXICO | International tourism up.... Read More