Economy & Business - June 2021

On 19 May, international credit ratings agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) announced that it had downgraded Colombia’s credit rating from ‘BBB-’ to ‘BB+’, placing it below investment grade for the first time in over ten years.... Read More

What began as a relatively uncontroversial relief measure for Peruvians struggling with the economic impact of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic snowballed into a central electoral issue as the fallout from the approved emergency early pension fund withdrawals have influenced Peru’s presidential run-off campaign. ... Read More

In his inauguration speech on 24 May, Ecuador’s new President Guillermo Lasso declared that his government will seek not to “minimise the size of the state but rather maximise its capacity to serve the poorest”.... Read More

COLOMBIA | Economic toll of protests comes into focus.... Read More

Chile’s business community is fretting over the results of the 15-16 May elections of a 155-strong constituent assembly, where right-wing parties failed to secure one third of the seats, the amount necessary to block radical changes in the new constitution that the assembly will be drafting.... Read More

Brazil’s central bank (BCB) on 24 May issued an information note explaining the general principles it believes should govern the hypothetical launch of its own digital currency, part of a new breed of Central Bank Digital Currencies or CBDCs.... Read More

Brazilian airlines are in the middle of a coronavirus (Covid-19) catastrophe, struggling with low demand, bankruptcies, and heavy debts.... Read More

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on the Uruguayan economy published on 25 May praises the country’s policy response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, but its predictions for recovery may be over-optimistic, given the latest spike in infections.... Read More

Last year, 4.673 gigawatts (GW) of new wind power capacity were installed in Latin America, led by Brazil with nearly half of this capacity (49.5%), and followed in second place by Argentina (21.7%), and in third place by Chile (14.6%).... Read More

The Argentine government led by President Alberto Fernández announced a one-month ban on beef exports in mid-May, and cattle ranchers hit back with a nine-day strike during which they refused to send live animals to market for slaughter.... Read More

PARAGUAY | Sales of beef surge, underpin rising exports.... Read More

Two energy conferences in May gave Central American government officials a chance to discuss progress in the transition to more renewable energy use and its implications for poverty reduction.... Read More

On 12 May Guatemala’s congress passed a legislative reform, since sanctioned by the executive, that allows the creation of more free trade zones (FTZs) as part of a post coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic economic recovery plan.... Read More

According to The Bahamas’ statistics department, the economy contracted by 14.5% in 2020, pushing the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio close to 100%.... Read More

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The Mexican government disclosed on 24 May that state-owned oil company, Pemex, had completed the purchase for US$596m of the Deer Park oil refinery, located in Houston, Texas.... Read More

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on 21 May that he would not extend Alejandro Díaz de León’s term as governor of Mexico’s central bank (Banxico) once his current term expires on 31 December.... Read More

The US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) on 25 May downgraded Mexico’s aviation safety rating from ‘Category 1’ to ‘Category 2’, which applies to only around a dozen countries around the world.... Read More

MEXICO| Growth forecast.... Read More