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 / Colombia
Colombian foreign reserves reached US$40.1bn in April, marking a 19.5% year-on-year (y-o-y) increase for the month. While exports performed poorly in Q113, contracting by 9.5% y-o-y during that period, we expect them to improve throughout the remainder of the year, which should contribute to further accumulation of foreign reserves. Indeed, a weaker currency, and a resolution of...
2013-05-31Economy / Colombia
In mid-May, President Juan Manuel Santos alluded that he will be running for re-election during the 2014 elections. We believe that Santos's electoral hopes will be tied to the evolution...
2013-05-31Economy / Peru
Peru's economy posted the slowest expansion since 2009 in Q113 due in part to a weak performance by the external sector and moderating fixed investment, bolstering our long-held view...
2013-05-30Economy / Brazil
Brazilian real GDP growth for Q113 came in at just 1.9% year-on-year (y-o-y), indicating that the country's economic recovery remains sluggish. As such, we will be revisiting our 3.3% real GDP growth forecast for this year in the coming weeks.
2013-05-31Economy / Brazil
After a strong January reading, Brazilian industrial production has struggled in recent months, with the seasonally-adjusted measure posting an average contraction of 0.3% year-on-year...
2013-05-31Economy / Brazil
In mid-May, Minas Gerais State Senator Aecio Neves was officially announced as the centre-right Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (PSDB)'s party president for the next two years....
2013-05-31Economy / Trinidad & Tobago
POLITICAL RISK - US Vice President Seeks To Build On Strong Relations US Vice President Joe Biden made an official visit to Trinidad & Tobago (T&T) in late May, highlighting the countries' cooperation on issues of energy and security. Biden signed an agreement providing a framework for trade and investment between the U.S. and the Caribbean Community, a group of...
2013-06-03Economy / Barbados
Barbadian Prime Minister Freundel Stuart met with US Vice President Joe Biden and Caricom leaders in late May. The meeting, hosted by Trinidad & Tobago, was anchored by the...
2013-06-03Economy / Puerto Rico
Consumer price inflation in Puerto Rico declined sharply from 1.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) in March to 0.5% y-o-y in April. We expect demand-side inflationary pressures to increase modestly...
2013-06-03Economy / Nicaragua
We believe that Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega may struggle to maintain his high level of popular support over the long term. In recent years, the leader's approval rating has jumped from 25.8% in December 2009 to 74.7% as of April 2013. However, with potential for a slowdown in assistance from Venezuela, this could cut into his ability to continue high levels of subsidies and...
2013-06-03Economy / Honduras
Honduras' two rival gangs, the Barrio 18 and Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), have recently announced a truce. A similar agreement in El Salvador saw a sharp reduction in the homicide rate,...
2013-06-03Economy / El Salvador
Salvadoran president, Mauricio Funes, has recently been forced to replace his Minister of Security & Justice as well as the Head of Migration. This came in the wake of a May...
2013-06-03Economy / Mexico
On May 23, the attorney general for the state of Tabasco reported that authorities have confiscated MXN89mn, which is believed to have been embezzled by the former Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) governor. We believe that combined with a recent corruption scandal in Veracruz, in which PRI officials allegedly were planning to use government social programme funding to...
2013-05-31Economy / Mexico
In Q113, Mexico recorded a US$12.6bn surplus in its financial and capital accounts. While this represents a sharp decline from the US$21.9bn in Q412, it comes largely on the back of...
2013-05-31Economy / Mexico
Implementation of recently passed education reform is likely to continue to face substantial pushback in the coming months. On one hand, the teachers' union represents a somewhat less...
2013-05-03Economy / Chile
Consumer price inflation came in at 1.0% y-o-y in April, down from 1.5% y-o-y the previous month. That said, we expect recent exchange rate weakness to increase inflationary pressures in the coming months. As such, while we still expect consumer price growth to remain relatively low, we forecast that inflation will rise above 2.0% by year-end.
2013-05-30Economy / Uruguay
President José Mujica met with Chinese leaders in Beijing in May to address the possibility of greater economic and political integration between the two countries. Mujica...
2013-05-30Economy / Paraguay
The first four months of 2013 have seen much lower consumer price inflation than we had originally expected, averaging just 2.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) after 4.0% inflation in 2012. We...
2013-05-30
