Economy & Business - February 2025

Halfway through President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s four-year term, the resurgence of inflation is throwing a wrench into his plan for Brazil.... Read More

When Nicolás Maduro was inaugurated in January for his third term as president of Venezuela, the country with the world’s largest proven oil reserves was drifting back towards economic chaos.... Read More

Amid all the news about Colombia’s worsening fiscal outlook and the endless troubles of President Gustavo Petro’s government, there was one bit of good news recently.... Read More

The international credit ratings agency Fitch announced on 24 January that it has downgraded Bolivia’s long-term foreign currency issuer default rating to ‘CCC-’ from ‘CCC’.... Read More

ECUADOR | Banana exports up. Ecuador’s banana exports increased by 1.57% in 2024 compared with 2023, to total 364.73m crates (1 crate = 18.14kg), according to a new report released on 27 January by the Asociación de Comercialización y Exportación de Banano (Acorbanec), Ecuador’s largest umbrella group of banana exporters.... Read More

Chile’s congress in late January approved a compromise pension reform that hands President Gabriel Boric a victory by boosting pension pay, improving gender equality, and heightening competition, while preserving many of the features of the current, mostly private system.... Read More

It’s been a long time since Argentina’s economy has generated as much positive news as recently.... Read More

BRAZIL| Petrobras raises diesel prices.... Read More

Costa Rican coffee producers are set to suffer crop losses due to unseasonably heavy rains and labour shortages which have limited harvesting capacity, adding to long-term issues in the sector.... Read More

Nicaraguan officials have proposed a new route for an interoceanic canal across the country, hoping to take advantage of burgeoning relations with China to bring a long-held ambition to fruition.... Read More

Various United Nations (UN) bodies and multilateral institutions have been publishing forecasts for the Caribbean economy in 2025.... Read More

Acute foreign currency shortages are driving the Cuban government to open “dollar only” retail stores, despite fears of growing economic inequality.... Read More

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | Record tourists.... Read More

President Claudia Sheinbaum unveiled her leftist government’s ‘Plan México’ on 13 January in a bid to boost national industry, curb imports from China, and capitalise on the trend towards nearshoring.... Read More

President Claudia Sheinbaum presented a national plan on 16 January to improve Mexico’s roads with an investment of M$35bn (US$1.7bn) in 2025, in a clear sign of the continuation of a popular policy championed by her predecessor and mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (2018-2024).... Read More

In January, Mexico and the European Union (EU) agreed to an updated version of a trade agreement that has been in force since 2000, aiming to boost trade and cooperation amid increasing worries over a global trade war sparked by US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.... Read More

On 26 January President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that she had submitted a reform bill to congress which would prohibit the cultivation of genetically modified (GM) corn in Mexico.... Read More

MEXICO | Growth in international tourism in 2024.... Read More