LatinNews Daily - 15 November 2018

Development: In the early hours of 15 November Argentina’s federal senate gave final approval to a version of the zero-deficit 2019 draft budget submitted by the government led by President Mauricio Macri.... Read More

Development: On 14 November Bolivia’s bicameral 166-member national legislature approved the decision to send its final report on the investigation into the region-wide bribery scandal involving Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht to the attorney general’s office and called for those mentioned in it to be investigated.... Read More

* International credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings has issued a statement affirming Colombia's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BBB' with a 'stable' outlook.... Read More

Development: On 14 November Brazil’s President-elect Jair Bolsonaro appointed Ernesto Henrique Fraga Araujo, a staunch anti-globalist diplomat, as his future foreign minister.... Read More

* Brazil’s outgoing president, Michel Temer, has inaugurated a new US$482m particle accelerator facility.... Read More

Development: On 14 November Panama’s comptroller general’s office presented the attorney general’s office with a preliminary audit of funds managed through the government-run Panamanian sports institute (Pandeportes).... Read More

* Ocnam Clamé Daméus, the chief prosecutor of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, has retracted an order issued on 12 November to freeze the bank accounts of 36 local and international companies as part of an investigation into the scandal involving some US$2bn in funds from Petrocaribe, Venezuela’s discounted oil initiative.... Read More

Development: On 14 November Mexico’s President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador presented a new comprehensive ‘national peace and security plan 2018-2024’ that his government will seek to implement once it assumes office on 1 December.... Read More

* Mexico’s economy ministry (SE) has reported that the country received US$24.17bn in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first nine months of the year, an 11.1% year-on-year increase.... Read More

* The Chilean fresh fruit exporters association (Asoex) is reporting that technical crews are in the fields assessing the potential impact of heavy rain and hail storms which struck the O’Higgins, Maule, Ñuble, Bío Bío, and La Araucanía regions on 12 November and are believed to have affected blueberries, cherries, table grapes, and stone fruit crops.... Read More