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

During the decade of the commodity boom (roughly the ten years to 2012) the governments of Argentina and Brazil (the two dominant members of the Mercosur trade bloc, whose other members are Paraguay and Uruguay [and Venezuela – suspended since 2016]) neglected the customs union and bickered between themselves over protective tariffs.... Read More

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to the Dominican Republic published its Article IV consultation findings on 23 April.... Read More

President Michel Temer, along with other centrist would-be candidates in Brazil’s October elections, have always worked with a key hypothesis: if the market-friendly policies pursued since 2016 can deliver an economic recovery, the electorate is likely to shun political extremes and vote for more of the same.... Read More

In April Cuba’s national assembly voted in Miguel Díaz-Canel as the country’s new president, replacing Raúl Castro, who had been in office since 2006.... Read More

The Paraguayan economy has been growing at a strong average rate of around 6% from 2013-2017.... Read More

As a general rule of thumb, strong economic growth tends to create greater political stability and support for the government in power.... Read More

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With the elections less than two months away, the economic policies of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), the left wing nationalist leader of the Juntos Haremos Historia coalition, continue under scrutiny.... Read More

As this issue went to press Argentina was putting together emergency financial support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after a run on the peso forced the Banco Central de la República Argentina (BCRA) to tighten interest rates, at the risk of derailing the government’s economic recovery programme.... Read More

President Lenin Moreno unveiled his government’s multi-year economic plan in early April, which aims to increase productivity, cut the fiscal deficit, promote investment, and generate employment.... Read More

The IMF concluded its annual Article IV consultation visit to Colombia on 27 April and was overall very positive about prospects for 2018, echoing earlier prospects that it had made earlier in the month about the economy being at a “turning point”.... Read More

Mining has always played a central role in the Peruvian economy, and after a period of slackness and political uncertainty, there are signs that the industry is once more getting in gear.... Read More

In line with other large commodity producers, Chile is feeling the benefit of rising global prices on its local economy.... Read More

Kroton expands again: Kroton, Brazil’s largest private education company, said in April that it had acquired a controlling stake in Somos Educação, a group focused on the pre-school, primary, and secondary education segments.... Read More