Economy & Business - February 2020

On his 1-6 December 2019 visit to China, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele announced the latest infrastructure investment from the country’s new Asian benefactor would be “gigantic” and “non-refundable”.... Read More

The 2019 Global Competitiveness Index, released by the World Economic Forum on 8 October 2019, ranked Venezuela 133rd out of 141 countries, making it the second worst performing economy in the region, only followed by Haiti.... Read More

On 1 January Ecuador’s ‘tax simplicity and progressivity law’ came into effect following its final approval by the national assembly on 30 December 2019.... Read More

According to a report published by the World Bank on 8 January 2020, although economic growth in Bolivia slowed dramatically in late 2019 amid social unrest following the October general election and subsequent resignation of former president Evo Morales (2006-2019) in November, the outlook for 2020 is tentatively positive.... Read More

PERU | Odebrecht lawsuit.... Read More

When he took office last year, it looked as if right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro might try and steer Brazil away from its close trading links with Communist China.... Read More

Brazil and Mexico are the first and second largest economies in Latin America respectively, accounting for over half of the region’s GDP.... Read More

The province of Buenos Aires came to the brink of default but backed down on 4 February.... Read More

Medium-term economic growth (despite a slow year in 2019) and new routes are increasing traffic at Asunción’s ‘Silvio Pettirossi’ international airport.... Read More

CHILE| Growing economic pessimism despite some positive indicators.... Read More

At its 40th heads of government conference, held in July 2019, the leaders of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) expressed their frustrations over the lack of progress on the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).... Read More

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) held its annual news conference on 11 February at which it predicted healthy economic growth for the region of 4.1% in 2020, but the projection is dramatically skewed by the oil-fuelled surge in growth in Guyana, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects at 85.6% for 2020.... Read More

PANAMA | Panama Canal water shortages.... Read More

Despite Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's still high public opinion ratings, the promised economic acceleration has not yet materialised.... Read More

With preliminary GDP data or 2019 just confirming a slight economic recession, it came as little surprise that Mexico’s central bank (Banxico) opted to cut the policy interest rate by 25 basis points at its most recent monetary policy meeting on 13 February.... Read More

There have been mixed messages from the Mexican authorities regarding energy policy in recent weeks.... Read More

Agricultural exports to China: On 23 January Mexico’s agriculture minister Víctor Villalobos said that the Mexican government hopes to increase Mexico's agricultural exports to China after signing new export protocols and successfully completing the first exports of plantains to the Asian country.... Read More