LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 16 August 2018

Development: On 15 August, mere hours before the deadline, Brazil’s leftist Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) formally registered former president Lula da Silva (2003-2011) as its presidential candidate in the 7 October general election, with the former PT São Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad (2013-2017) as his running mate.... Read More

* Brazil’s central bank (BCB) has released the latest figures on monthly economic activity (IBC-Br) for June, which show a positive recovery after the index’s record slump in May.... Read More

Argentina: Argentina’s national statistics institute (Indec) has released new figures which show that monthly inflation in July was 3.1% compared with the previous month, and that the year-on-year July rate was of 31.2%.... Read More

Brazil is less than two months away from its 7 October general election and the outcome is still widely unpredictable.... Read More

The Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente (FCI), a Santiago-based NGO which aims to promote and safeguard transparency, accountability, and citizen participation, has released the initial findings of its ongoing No Más Cohecho (‘no more bribery’) study.... Read More

The emergence of various social and environmental movements, notably the ‘Patagonia sin represas’ movement, have led to the creation of government institutions that seek to strengthen environmental justice in Chile.... Read More

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), over half of Latin Americans are obese are overweight.... Read More

IMF downgrades Argentina growth forecast: On 23 July the International Monetary Fund (IMF) revised down its growth projections for Argentina in 2018 from the 2% forecast in April to just 0.4%, with the economy predicted to contract in the second and third quarters of 2018.... Read More