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Economy & Business - August 2005
What oil at US$70 a barrel means for the region
When oil broke through the US$70 a barrel mark on 30 August, the Mexican stockmarket fell by 2.2%. This reaction suggests that investors believe that the US economy cannot cope with high oil prices. This belief was subsequently franked by a couple of discouraging statistics from the US. First, the second-quarter GDP growth figure was revised downwards. Then, and more seriously, because the indicator is forward-looking, the Chicago purchasing-managers index recorded its biggest-ever fall. It came in at 49.2 for August, well down on the July rate of 63.5 and far below the 61 independent forecasters expected. On top of this there is the effect of Hurricane Katrina on the southern states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
- What oil at US$70 a barrel means for the region
- Problems mount
- Interest rate cuts imminent
- ARGENTINA: Growing but inflation kicks up
- CHILE: Growth rate settles on a strid
- PARAGUAY: Finance minister claims fiscal deficit down by year end
- URUGUAY: Budget posturing
- BOLIVIA: Central bank turns mildly bearish
- COLOMBIA: Export led growth
- ECUADOR: Too much of a good thing?
- PERU: Exports boom
- VENEZUELA: Booming
- COSTA RICA: Hospira shifts from Ireland to Costa Rica
- CUBA: Fidel claims 9% growth rate this year
- DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Worries about the oil price
- EL SALVADOR: Coffee exports to hit US$165m
- GUATEMALA: Central bank raises rates
- HONDURAS: IMF team arrives
- NICARAGUA: Exports to rise 14%, but oil imports outstrip
- PANAMA: Economy grows by 6%
- OIL: Venezuela plans for 5m bpd by 2010
- MINING: Enviromentalists object in Argentina
- Copper; Brazil nuts
- The people behind Pollo Campero
- What Slim is doing in Colombia
- Brazilian political crisis affects debt sales
- Cepal issues warning about remittances