Latin American market data, analysis and forecasts from Business Monitor International, the trusted source for business information and intelligence on global emerging markets.
Latin America Monitor (LAM) provides political risk analysis, economic forecasts and business information for trade & industry across the emerging Latin American economies of the Andean, Brazil, the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and the Southern Cone. Latin America Monitor is available as six printed, regional, monthly newsletters. Subscribers also receive password access to a searchable 24-month archive of Latin America Monitor articles and data online plus the ability to download PDFs of current and back issues of Latin America Monitor.
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Economy / Ecuador
BMI View: While Ecuador has narrowed its fiscal deficit over the last couple of years, registering a deficit of -1.1% of GDP in 2011, we believe the country's heavy reliance on oil to fund its fiscal expenditures will lead to problems down the road. With both the political and economic outlook dependent on oil revenues, if oil prices unwind it could lead to substantial unrest....
2012-05-14Economy / Colombia
While we have raised our 2012 central government fiscal deficit forecast for Colombia from 2.2% of GDP to 2.6% of GDP, we still believe the country will achieve its long-term plans...
2012-05-10Economy / Colombia
Colombia's unemployment rate has been declining at a larger pace than we had expected, reaching 10.4% in March down from 10.8% during the same month in 2011, and therefore we are revising...
2012-05-04Economy / Brazil
Brazilian retail sales continued to tick up in February, coming in at 9.6% y-o-y, beating Bloomberg consensus estimates of 9.1% y-o-y to hit a 10-month high. This follows an upward revision of January's reading from 7.3% y-o-y to 7.8%, and indicates that consumer demand is beginning to pick up. We expect retail sales to continue to be bolstered by extensive fiscal and monetary stimulus...
2012-05-02Economy / Brazil
Carlos Brizola Neto of the Partido Democrático Trabalhista (PDT) took office as Brazil's new labour minister on May 1, replacing Carlos Lupi who resigned from the post in December...
2012-05-02Economy / Brazil
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's domestic political challenges look set to continue over the coming months, following the approval of a controversial new forestry law by the Chamber...
2012-05-02Economy / Guyana
BMI View: Our view that Guyana's minority government will struggle with policymaking continues to play out. The current budget stalemate highlights that disagreements between the president and legislature will keep the government too embattled to push through a cohesive policy agenda, meaning that the country's structural economic challenges will remain largely unaddressed.
2012-05-08Economy / Guyana
In mid-April, Guyana's police force noted that there had been a 8% y-o-y decrease in 'serious crimes' during the first three months of 2012, according to local press reports. While...
2012-05-08Economy / Puerto Rico
A recent spate of cocaine seizures by the Puerto Rican authorities serve to highlight the importance of the commonwealth as a trafficking route for the regional drugs trade. In April...
2012-05-07Economy / Honduras
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo has appointed Isaac Ramon Santos Aguilar as the new director of the country's anti-narcotics ministry. We believe Santos has a daunting task ahead of him in light of both the significant influence the cartels wield, as well as substantial popular discontent over corruption within Honduras' security forces, evidenced clearly in the last six months...
2012-05-08Economy / Nicaragua
Despite an earlier statement by Nicaragua's central bank that it intends to focus on ensuring more benign inflationary conditions in 2012, we forecast inflation will remain elevated,...
2012-05-07Economy / Panama
Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli, is facing questions over whether he accepted bribes from Italian companies in return for granting contracts to build prisons. While Panama's...
2012-05-07Political Risk / Mexico
Despite putting forward a security policy broadly similar to the current administration's, Partido Revolucionario Institucional candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto, continues to poll best amongst voters who disapprove of the president's policies. Peña Nieto's most recent proposal includes the creation of 40,000 person "national gendarmerie" staffed by former soldiers and the continued...
2012-05-02Economy / Mexico
Following the April 28 murder of well-known Mexican journalist, Regina Martínez, Mexico's Chamber of Deputies (lower house) has approved legislation protecting journalists, human rights...
2012-05-02Economy / Mexico
February retail sales growth came in at 7.6% y-o-y - well above both market expectations and the previous month's growth at 4.8% y-o-y and 4.4% respectively. While sales growth was...
2012-05-02Economy / Chile
BMI View: Despite falling slightly from end-2011 levels, Chile's foreign reserves have held up well in Q112, reaching US$39.6bn in March. However, with our Commodities team forecasting a drop off in copper prices in H212, we expect a slight deterioration in the country's terms of trade over the coming months, which is likely to put some downside pressure on the reserve base....
2012-05-04Economy / Argentina
BMI View: Consumer price inflation figures from Argentina's national statistics agency show a slight uptick in price pressures in March 2012, to 9.8% y-o-y from 9.7% in February....
2012-05-03Economy / Paraguay
BMI View: Paraguay's consumer price inflation continued to lose steam in March, coming in at 0.5% m-o-m and just 3.3% y-o-y. The collapse of meat prices in the wake of two foot-and-mouth...
2012-04-27
