LatinNews Daily - 23 December 2019

On 21 December, Argentina’s federal senate gave final approval to a package of bills tabled by the new government led by President Alberto Fernández that declares a ‘public emergency’ in the country.... Read More

On 22 December, Venezuelan government officials denounced an armed attack on a military base in the southern state of Bolívar, near the Brazilian border, condemning the perpetrators as “opposition extremists”.... Read More

* The flagship tax reform championed by President Iván Duque was finally approved by Colombia's national congress after three days of debate, and despite the rejection of Duque’s initial proposal by Colombia’s constitutional court in October.... Read More

On 20 December, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro announced that he had spoken over the phone with US President Donald Trump, who had said that he would backtrack on his decision to tax Brazilian steel and aluminium exports to the US.... Read More

* Brazil’s central bank (BCB) has released the latest balance of payments figures which show that the current account deficit totalled US$51.2bn, or 2.78% of GDP, in the 12 months to November 2019, down from US$52.1bn (2.83% of GDP) in the 12 months to October.... Read More

On 21 December, Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel named Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero as Cuba’s new prime minister.... Read More

* Costa Rican and Colombian customs authorities have signed a mutual recognition agreement (MRA) relating to authorised economic operators (AEO) in the framework of the two countries’ free trade agreement (FTA) which took effect in 2016.... Read More

On 22 December, Mexico’s ambassador to Argentina, Ricardo Valero Recio Becerra, resigned from his post for “health reasons”.... Read More

* A Mexican private sector think-tank, Centro de Estudios Económicos del Sector Privado (CEESP), has warned that while the recent 20% minimum wage increase announced last week by the government was welcomed by all sectors, it should be “congruent with productivity”.... Read More

* Argentina’s economy ministry has announced that the treasury has successfully placed Ar$18.84bn (US$299.1m) in peso-denominated bonds in the domestic financial market.... Read More

Bolivia: On 16 December, Bolivia’s interior minister, Arturo Murillo, announced that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) had expressed its desire to resume aid to Bolivia following its expulsion from the country in May 2013 under the previous administration led by Evo Morales (2006-2019).... Read More

This issue is the final LatinNews Daily of 2019.... Read More