LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 26 October 2018

Development: On 25 October, Brazilian pollster Datafolha released its latest public opinion poll, three days ahead of the presidential run-off vote on 28 October and two days before the official end of campaigning. ... Read More

* Brazil’s central bank (BCB) has released the latest balance of payments figures, which reveal that Brazil recorded a current account surplus of US$32m in September 2018, a significant decrease on the US$423m surplus in September 2017.... Read More

Development: On 25 October Chile’s government spokesperson Cecilia Pérez said that over the “next few days” President Sebastián Piñera would present a new pension reform legislative initiative.... Read More

* Chile’s senate has approved plans to update and expand the country’s existing free trade agreement (FTA) with China.... Read More

The Argentine government led by President Mauricio Macri is only one step away from securing approval for an austere and unpopular but International Monetary Fund (IMF)-approved 2019 budget.... Read More

Jair Bolsonaro, an ex-army captain, looks set to become Brazil’s next president.... Read More

“On Sunday we are going to win.” It was not presidential frontrunner Jair Bolsonaro, but his opponent Fernando Haddad who tweeted this with less than a week to go before the second round of Brazil’s presidential election, on 28 October.... Read More

However much he keeps talking about the future, President Sebastián Piñera cannot seem to escape the past in Chile.... Read More

Congress has approved a reform of the Caja Militar, the military pension, in a protracted process which has been the source of serious friction between the left-wing Frente Amplio (FA) government led by President Tabaré Vázquez and the armed forces.... Read More