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 / Venezuela
enezuela's international reserves stood at US$29.3bn, down from a peak of US$42.2bn in December 2008. We continue to see reserves falling to US$15.0bn by end-2009 as the current account recovers only slightly from its current deficit and the financial account continues to leak dollars.
2009-06-25Economy / Venezuela
he Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) is in the process of reviewing a US$1.5bn loan to upgrade the Puerto la Cruz and El Palito refineries in Venezuela, according...
2009-06-25Economy / Bolivia
One of the founders of Bolivia's ruling Movimiento Al Socialismo (MAS), Román Loayza, announced on June 16 that he was officially resigning from the party and would stand as a candidate...
2009-06-24Economy / Brazil
Rio de Janeiro State Governor Sergio Cabral announced that China's state development bank is planning to open a branch in Brazil's oil and gas capital, where Brazil's state energy giant Petrobras is based. The announcement follows an agreement by the China Development Bank Corp. to lend US$10bn to Petrobras back in May, to help fund offshore exploration projects. We believe this...
2009-07-02Economy / Brazil
Brazilian industrial output continued to contract on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis for the seventh month running in May, falling by 11.3%, and 9.9% seasonally adjusted. Although still...
2009-07-02Economy / Brazil
Brazil's consumer confidence index, as measured by the Fundação Getulio Vargas institute, has made an astonishing comeback in the second quarter of the year, bouncing from 97.6...
2009-07-01Economy / Trinidad & Tobago
Prime Minister Patrick Manning has reiterated his support for Trinidad and Tobago's entry into an economic and political union with the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). According to Manning, the economic problems confronting the Eastern Caribbean pose a threat to the economic and well-being of the twin-island republic. Trinidad and Tobago, along with St Lucia,...
2009-07-02Economy / Puerto Rico
BMI View: With luxury and residential home sales continuing to plunge, Puerto Rico's property market is showing little sign of gaining traction, and we expect more pain to be in store...
2009-07-02Economy / Trinidad & Tobago
The Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago (CBTT) cut the country's repo rate by 50bps to 7.50% in June, bringing cumulative monetary easing to 125bps since March. The move came on...
2009-07-02Economy / El Salvador
BMI View: Until the fall in remittances starts to stabilise, it is extremely unlikely that the El Salvadoran consumer will be able to mount a meaningful recovery, such is the importance of these inflows in driving household spending. Coupled with a rise in local unemployment, we believe that private consumption will remain a major drag on headline growth in H209.
2009-07-01Economy / Costa Rica
BMI View: Heavily dependent on US demand and capital inflows, Central America's benchmark economies will not only lag their Southern peers on the recovery trail, but will also settle...
2009-06-25Economy / Guatemala
BMI View: The media frenzy surrounding President Álvaro Colom's alleged links to the murder of a Guatemalan lawyer has undoubtedly hurt the country's political risk profile - not...
2009-06-23Economy / Mexico
On June 17 the Mexican navy announced the seizure of more than one tonne of cocaine hidden inside the carcasses of frozen sharks, an indication of the lengths the cartels will go to smuggle drugs across the US-Mexico border. The high-profile seizure follows the announcement earlier in June that the US is now looking to do more about the flow of arms and money south of the border,...
2009-07-02Economy / Mexico
According to IMF statistics, Mexico's foreign reserves (excluding gold) fell to US$84.0bn in April, a 9.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) fall, significantly greater than March's 6.1% y-o-y...
2009-07-02Economy / Mexico
With a recent poll suggesting the governing Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) has failed to make up substantial ground on the opposition Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), it...
2009-07-02Economy / Argentina
President Cristina Fernández and her ruling Frente para Victoria bloc have suffered defeat in last Sunday's mid-term elections, in which the ruling coalition lost its majority in both houses of congress. Although we caution that this could lead to an increase in public spending to boost the party's popularity ahead of the 2011 presidential election, we see this development as...
2009-06-29Economy / Paraguay
We have previously highlighted the pressures facing Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo resulting from his ambitious electoral promises, which we believed could seriously harm his...
2009-06-26Economy / Paraguay
The Paraguayan authorities are reportedly planning on selling their first international bond in an effort to deepen local financial markets and encourage investment in the country....
2009-06-26
