Economy & Business - June 2026

Increasingly confident forecasts that the El Niño weather phenomenon will develop this year have sparked widespread concerns in northern Central America, particularly in the arid so-called ‘Dry Corridor’.... Read More

Venezuela has officially embarked on one of the most complex sovereign debt restructurings in history.... Read More

Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz has been facing mass protests across the country since mid-May, with trade unions, indigenous organisations, miners, and peasant farmers joining forces to demand his resignation.... Read More

VENEZUELA | Rodríguez seeks India deals amid falling inflation.... Read More

When José Antonio Kast became president of Chile on 11 March, the country’s equity markets rallied and the value of the peso rose amid investor optimism that the far-right leader would push business-friendly reforms and economic growth.... Read More

Chile’s President José Antonio Kast has appointed economist Bernardo Fontaine as the new chairman of Codelco, the world’s largest copper producer, with a mandate to streamline the state-owned mining company and return it to growth.... Read More

The world wants rare earth minerals and Brazil has the planet’s second-largest reserves of them.... Read More

Less than a fortnight after the free trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and South America’s Mercosur bloc [EB-26-02] took provisional effect on 1 May, Brussels announced plans to ban Brazilian meat imports from September onwards, citing non-compliance with food safety standards.... Read More

BRAZIL | IMF hails resilience of economy.... Read More

On 20 May Costa Rica’s new president, Laura Fernández, signed a law to finance a new US$800m electric train project, which is part of a wider drive to overhaul the country’s infrastructure and reform the energy system, although structural constraints may limit her ability to deliver on her promises.... Read More

Massive, recurring power cuts have become a central feature of Cuba’s ongoing economic collapse.... Read More

Two interlocking questions are being asked in Kingston.... Read More

PANAMA | Toughening tax transparency.... Read More

Mexico kicked off trade negotiations in Mexico City (CDMX) with the US – but without Canada – ahead of the mandatory joint review scheduled for 1 July of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).... Read More

International credit rating agencies downgraded Mexico in May over a broad range of concerns, including a deteriorating fiscal position, rising debt levels, sluggish economic growth, and the punitive burden of ongoing financial support for the state-owned oil company, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex).... Read More

On 22 May Mexico and the European Union (EU) signed an updated version of a trade agreement that had been in force since 2000, at the same time as President Claudia Sheinbaum is renegotiating the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade pact.... Read More

MEXICO | Remittances continue to rise year-on-year.... Read More