Latin American Economy & Business - January 2018 (ISSN 1741-7430)

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) published its updated estimates and forecasts for the regional economies in 2017 and 2018 on 14 December.... Read More

At the end of each year, the economy and planning minister – currently Ricardo Cabrisas, who has held the post since July 2016 – presents a report to the National Assembly outlining the country’s economic performance over the course of the year.... Read More

Chronic shortages of US dollars are causing numerous economic problems for the Venezuelan government.... Read More

Peru experienced an intense political crisis for two weeks in December, leading to a formal vote to impeach President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.... Read More

Chile’s political pendulum has swung back to the right again.... Read More

In the tail-end of his five-year term in office, Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes appears to have taken on a new job: trying to steer almost 20 years of free trade negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur to a successful conclusion.... Read More

With presidential elections due in July and the fate of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) hanging in the balance, 2018 will be a momentous year for the Mexican economy.... Read More

The sixth round of tripartite negotiations between Canada, Mexico, and the United States on the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) was due to be held in Montreal, Canada, on 23-28 January.... Read More

As our Special Focus on Mexico shows (see below), notwithstanding intensifying external and internal pressure most governments in Latin America, along with the judiciary, the police, and other state agencies, are still struggling to respond adequately to corruption.... Read More

In removing his vice president, President Lenín Moreno has made a definitive break with the radical faction of the ruling Alianza País (AP) that remains loyal to his predecessor, Rafael Correa (2007-2017).... Read More

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and its sister organisation, the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT, comprising 17 countries from South, Central and North America) have been compiling two new evaluation reports on Mexico and Colombia’s progress with Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorist Financing (AML/CFT) efforts.... Read More

A wave of new low-budget airlines (also known as low cost carriers or LCCs) is arriving in Argentina with plans to shake up the local air travel market.... Read More

US-based Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company, and Brazil-based Embraer, the world’s third-largest aircraft manufacturer, acknowledged in December that they were talking about doing something together.... Read More

Brazilian automobile production rose 25.2% in 2017 to reach 2.699m units, according to industry body Associação Nacional dos Fabricantes de Veículos Automotores (Anfavea).... Read More

As we went to press on 9 January, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued its latest short-term energy outlook, in which it projected that US crude oil production would average 10.3m b/d in 2018, the highest annual average production in US history, surpassing the previous record of 9.6m b/d set in 1970.... Read More

Coca-Cola move in Chile... Read More