Guatemala

A two-week long strike of hospital workers is paralysing the country's health system. The strikers are demanding a wage rise as well as an improved supply of medicine for patients... 2006-07-14

BMI View: The damage inflicted by Hurricane Stan in October last year has meant lower coffee yields in the current harvest. According to the latest figures from the national coffee... 2006-06-14

The president of the central bank, Lizardo Sosa, has revised his year-end growth figures due to the continued delays in the approval of DR-CAFTA by Guatemala's congress. Speaking... 2006-05-17

Exports rose 8.7% y-o-y in January, as sugar sales rose by 60% and cardamom sales by 67% on the same month last year. There was a 12% y-o-y rise in sales to the rest of Central America.... 2006-04-20

The slow process of reaching agreement with the US on the key issues for Guatemala to enter into DR-CAFTA appears to be coming to fruition - but not without obstacles appearing again... 2006-04-11

The government is struggling to convince the opposition-dominated congress of the need for tightening up the rules on sales tax, or IVA, in order to close down the many loopholes... 2006-04-11

Exports rose by 6.9% y-o-y in 2005, to total US$5.38bn. A strong rise in revenue from coffee (41%), sugar (26%) and petrol sales (26%), offset slower sales of cardamom and bananas.... 2006-03-20

Unlike in other Latin American nations, mining companies that operate in Guatemala currently have to pay the state a royalty of 1% on the value of all minerals they extract. Elsewhere,... 2006-03-15

Year-on-year inflation reached 8.1% in January 2006, after ending 2005 at 8.6%. Year-end inflation was 9.2% in December 2004. Prices rose by 0.91% during January, compared with a... 2006-02-17

In the first days of the new year, Central America was expecting to be celebrating the formal start of a free trade accord with its largest trading partner, the United States. By... 2006-02-16