Another record-breaking close in Colombia's benchmark IGBC equity index on August 31 has reinforced our long-held bullish conviction on the bourse. The strong fundamental outlook, driven by the country's impressive growth prospects and likely upgrade to investment status within 12 months, will presage further gains, in our view. Moreover, without any technical resistance to the... 2010-09-01

With Brazil's high-yielding real-denominated instruments likely to remain very attractive as sovereign yields in developed states continue to fall, we believe that additional international investors will be drawn into the Brazilian market, likely prompting yields to fall still lower. While this is likely to ease debt-servicing costs for the time being, we caution that a prolonging... 2010-09-01

BMI View: We believe Jamaica is on track to meet the Q210 IMF hurdle for its Q210 Stand-By agreement thanks to the recent buoyancy of the country's external accounts, which is good news for a degree of fiscal consolidation in H210. Although political opposition and global economic headwinds will likely see a fiscal deterioration in 2011, structural economic reform should provide... 2010-08-06

BMI View: Central America's two speed economic development is set to continue, as political obstacles in the economies with the weakest growth outlook prevent the introduction of sweeping business environment reforms. Lack of reform will make it harder to attract foreign capital, keeping these economies heavily reliant on remittances to cover the trade gap, and in turn capping... 2010-08-31

BMI View: According to weekly data from Mexico's central bank, foreign reserves hit US$103.4bn on July 23, a whopping 40.7% increase from the same period in 2009. As the monetary authorities continue their policy of boosting foreign reserves through their US$ put/MXN call options (which alone have accumulated over US$2.0bn in reserves since March this year) we expect levels to... 2010-07-30

In a sign of the Paraguayan government's efforts at boosting the country's regional profile, on July 23 Foreign Minister Hector Lacognata announced that President Fernando Lugo had offered to act as a mediator between Colombia and Venezuela in potential talks aimed at cooling bilateral tensions between the two states. According to reports, Lugo has been in contact with both Venezuelan... 2010-07-28