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Latin America Monitor (LAM) provides subscribers with systematic political risk assessment, economic forecasts and business analysis for each country across the region. The service includes online access to the very latest analysis, a 24-month searchable archive of articles and data, and PDF access to the monthly Monitor reports.
Published by Business Monitor International, the emerging market specialists, LAM is broken down into six regional services: Andean, Brazil, Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and Southern Cone.
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Political Risk / Bolivia
Our negative political outlook for Bolivia remains unchanged after the province of Santa Cruz voted in favour of increased autonomy from the central government. Social unrest remains high and President Evo Morales faces mounting pressure to keep the country intact through concessionary action. Nevertheless, the threat of military activity cannot be discounted.
2008-05-06Economy / Venezuela
Venezuela managed to post a record 3.6% of GDP fiscal surplus in 2007, thanks to booming oil and non-oil sector revenues and relatively moderate spending. We expect the government...
2008-04-18Economy / Colombia
End-2007 economic growth figures have impressed on the upside, with GDP growing by an impressive 7.5%, exceeding our estimates of 6.4%. As such, with the Colombian economy in even...
2008-04-14Economy / Brazil
Brazilian rice producers seem to have succeeded in preventing authorities from extending a suspension on rice exports to the private sector. The government's proposed plans came on the back of global rice prices hitting new record highs, appreciating by over 80% since the beginning of the year. Brazilian rice producers export about 10% of their output to maintain a profit margin...
2008-05-07Economy / Brazil
Brazilian rice producers seem to have succeeded in preventing authorities from extending a suspension on rice exports to the private sector. The government's proposed plans came on...
2008-05-07Economy / Brazil
We have revised down Brazil's short-term political risk ratings to 72.1 this month, from 73.3, on the back of growing headline inflation and a recent uptick the monthly unemployment...
2008-04-11Economy / Guyana
Inflation in 2007 hit 14.1%, compared to 4.2% the previous year. The key drivers were a combination of elevated food and energy prices, with food prices having risen by 20.6%, compared to 6.1% in 2006. The other important factor was the introduction of a new VAT regime as part of the government's fiscal reform program, which saw dramatic consumer price rises. As such, we expect...
2008-04-14Economy / Guyana
The New York-based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) has issued a damning assessment on the state of Guyana's governance, with particular attention focussing on opposition...
2008-04-14Economy / Angola
Chester Hughes helped the ruling United Progressive Party (UPP) retain its majority of 12 out of 17 seats in parliament by winning a by-election in the All Saints East and St Luke...
2008-04-14Economy / Costa Rica
One of our major risks to the Costa Rican economy has been the possibility of a major slowdown in the US, and it appears that it may already be having a toll on foreign investment, following a banner year in 2007. We are not yet shifting our forecasts for the external account, however, until Q1 data emerges.
2008-04-15Economy / Guatemala
With inflation remaining above Banguat's 7.0% upper limit, at 9.1% in March, a sense of panic is setting in, beginning with the government's proposal to use public funds to stem higher...
2008-04-15Economy / Costa Rica
Foreign reserves increased by US$1bn in 2007 to US$4.1bn, owing to high levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) and the central bank's purchases of US dollars in order to maintain...
2008-04-15Economy / Mexico
Following disappointing data from the first half of April, central bank Banxico's recently-released quarterly inflation report revised up its inflation expectations for 2008. The short-term inflation outlook is looking less favourable, and markets were quick to respond to Banxico's unexpectedly hawkish report, which revised up its Q208, Q308 and Q408 CPI projections by 50 basis...
2008-05-08Economy / Mexico
As the value of Mexico's total oil basket grew 9.7% m-o-m to reach a new high of US$88.10 per barrel (bbl), production fell 10.7% y-o-y in March to 3.2mn barrels per day (bpd), following...
2008-05-07Economy / Mexico
As the value of Mexico's total oil basket grew 9.7% m-o-m to reach a new high of US$88.10 per barrel (bbl), production fell 10.7% y-o-y in March to 3.2mn barrels per day (bpd), following...
2008-05-07Economy / Chile
Chilean headline inflation slowed to 0.4% m-o-m in April, from 0.8% m-o-m in March, as a result of lower housing, transportation and education costs. Food inflation remains stubbornly high, however, expanding by 1.3% m-o-m and spiking higher on an annualised basis to 18.2% y-o-y, from 17.6% in March. As a result, food prices contributed 5.0pp to April's annualised CPI figure,...
2008-05-08Economy / Argentina
Recent destabilising economic and political events in Argentina have brought to light some of the distortions that have been building up since the recovery from the 2001-02 financial...
2008-05-01Economy / Chile
The opposition bloc Alianza por Chile received a boost in April when the chamber of deputies voted to suspend Education Minister Yasna Provoste for 'serious neglect of duties' in...
2008-04-16
