Economy & Business - July 2024

As the scale of the victory of the leftist Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena) party in Mexico’s presidential elections on 2 June became clear, investors expressed acute concern: both the Mexican stock market’s IPC index and the peso fell to lows not seen since last year, with market jitters continuing into July.... Read More

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro scored two congressional victories in June with the approval of his landmark pension reform and a bill that raised the debt ceiling and averted the risk of default.... Read More

Oliver Stark, the president of Peru’s state-owned oil company Petroperú, announced in an interview with national daily El Comercio on 24 June that the company’s board of directors had approved eight measures aimed at addressing the extreme financial difficulties it is currently facing.... Read More

Despite President Luis Arce’s claims that reports of fuel shortages have been exaggerated, the decision on 12 June to deploy soldiers to petrol stations around Bolivia suggests the issue is a real one.... Read More

VENEZUELA | Rising oil production.... Read More

Argentina’s President Javier Milei scored a major victory with the approval in late June of his ‘omnibus bill’ and fiscal reform by the lower chamber of congress.... Read More

Argentina has a lot of natural gas, Brazil needs a lot of it, and the country that lies between the two of them wants to transport it.... Read More

Following his initial tirades early last year against Brazil’s central bank, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva seemed to have buried the hatchet and turned to other issues as the economy picked up and congress played ball.... Read More

Chile is in some ways perfectly placed to benefit from the global trend to swap fossil fuels for more sustainable alternative energies.... Read More

BRAZIL | Record for beef exports.... Read More

Poor infrastructure is affecting the movement of goods and having a knock-on effect on economic activity, and President Bernardo Arévalo has launched a national foreign investment strategy to address longstanding issues.... Read More

A report published on 7 June by the economic sciences research institute (IICE) at the Universidad de Costa Rica found that in February, 20.61% of the Costa Rican population were living in poverty, a 2.4 percentage point decrease compared to February last year, but inequality was almost unchanged over the period.... Read More

Curaçao-based airline JetAir was declared bankrupt on 18 June with all flights grounded and trustees appointed to decide whether to approve a financial recovery plan or opt instead for permanent closure.... Read More

The Fourth International Conference of Small Island Developing States (known as SIDS4) was held in Antigua & Barbuda on 26-30 May.... Read More

Fiscal adjustment and debt reduction should be top priorities for the government, according to an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission led by David Moore, which visited Antigua & Barbuda on 17-21 June.... Read More

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | Tourism up.... Read More

The decision of Mexico’s central bank (Banxico) to keep interest rates on hold at its latest monetary policy meeting on 27 June could represent just a brief pause in the monetary easing cycle that began in March, as dim prospects loom for economic growth in 2024.... Read More

On 27 June Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that the Mexican government is hoping to reach a deal over disputed lithium concessions with Chinese firm Ganfeng Lithium, while still defending the country’s rights.... Read More

On 18 June the US suspended avocado imports from Michoacán state following a security incident involving two inspectors from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (Aphis).... Read More

MEXICO | Inflation continues upward trend.... Read More