Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said that more changes are underway after naming a former general to replace the University of Chicago-educated economist running state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA. The leadership change at Petrobras followed a feud with Bolsonaro over fuel prices after Petrobras adjusted them to align with international rates. His comments on Saturday may add … Read more
Argentina’s economic recovery sputtered out in December, tallying its worst month since the start of the pandemic. Economic growth month-over-month slowed to a crawl of 0.9 percent growth, down from 1.4 percent in November. After a short-lived bounce-back from the pandemic in May, the country still tallied an annual descent of 2.2 percent from December 2019, … Read more
With the price of copper reaching a 10-year high thanks in no small part to China’s insatiable appetite, Chile, the world’s leading producer, faces a “unique” opportunity, experts told AFP. Copper rose to US $ 4.21 a pound on the London Metal Exchange on Wednesday, meaning it has doubled its price since March 2020. Now … Read more
Argentina’s economy shrank by 10 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to initial estimates published by the INDEC national statistics bureau. Data from the bureau’s Monthly Estimator of Economic Activity (EMAE), published Wednesday, revealed the economy fell by 2.2 percent in December, compared to the same month in 2019, although it was … Read more
The income chasm between the rich and poor in Latin America, dramatically exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, has led to efforts to tax the wealthy – though the reception has been uneven across various countries. The Latin American Network for Economic and Social Justice describes the region as “the most unequal in the world in terms … Read more
One of Argentina’s largest creditor groups have slammed the government, criticising the “erratic” policies of the Alberto Fernández administration and accusing it of dragging its feet during debt talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The comments come just five months after the Ad Hoc Group of Argentina Exchange Bondholders agreed to sign up for … Read more
Latin America and the Caribbean, the region where the coronavirus caused the worst economic destruction and more than a quarter of the world’s deaths, is now falling victim to a slow inoculation campaign. Political fights and production bottlenecks are stymieing Brazil’s vaccination efforts. Mexico is struggling to source doses as its death toll surpasses India’s. … Read more
Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, appointed an Army reserve general to lead state-owned energy giant Petrobras, after criticising several successive increases in the price of fuel. “The government decided to appoint Joaquim Silva e Luna to fulfill a new mission, as… president of Petrobras, after closing the cycle, exceeding two years, of the current president … Read more
Argentine banks took a beating last year, and the nation’s biggest lender says the industry is at risk of a repeat performance. While bad loans and government regulations were the main culprits in 2020, rising inflation will be added to the list this year, according to Fabián Kon, chief executive officer of Banco Galicia, Argentina’s … Read more
After delaying 14 months (largely due to the coronavirus pandemic but also procrastination), the Alberto Fernández presidency is now poised to deliver on its campaign promise of multi-sector (although not multi-party) negotiations aiming at a macro-economic consensus based on a wage-price agreement. Optimists hope that this might produce something approximating the plan demanded by the … Read more