Economy & Business - August 2020

On 2 July Guatemala announced that it had started the process of leaving the International Coffee Organisation (ICO), the London-based body that drives cooperation between almost 50 coffee-producing countries, amid concern for regional agriculture.... Read More

Remittances – money sent home by people living overseas to family and friends – traditionally provide something of a cushion in times of economic crisis for developing countries.... Read More

Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno announced on 3 August the arrival of a deal with bondholders to restructure some US$17.4bn in sovereign debt.... Read More

PERU | Emergency spending.... Read More

After nearly four months of haggling, a selective default, and a series of delayed deadlines, the Argentine government has finally settled the terms of a deal to restructure US$66.24bn worth of sovereign bond debt.... Read More

Foreigners, particularly those with money to invest, are being wooed by the new centre-right government of President Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou in Uruguay.... Read More

A boost to consumption on the short term, versus fiscal problems and increased public debt on the longer term.... Read More

Under the government of President Jair Bolsonaro, it has been assumed that there is an irreconcilable tension between Brazil’s economic development and job creation on the one hand, and the need for environmental protection on the other.... Read More

The role of Chinese telecommunications company, Huawei, in Brazil’s ‘5G’ rollout is still uncertain, and an ongoing cause of friction in relations between Brasília and Washington. ... Read More

PARAGUAY| Financial aid to prioritise border region.... Read More

Apart from Haiti, for which fate seldom has a kind gesture, in terms of health the Caribbean has been relatively untouched by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More

Luis Abinader and the Partido Revolucionario Moderno (PRM) broke the 16-year stranglehold on power that the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD) held in the Dominican Republic (DR) in the 5 July general election.... Read More

NICARAGUA | Warning of the coronavirus impact on business.... Read More

Mexico’s national statistics institute (Inegi) published its latest preliminary GDP estimates on 30 July.... Read More

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador presented new proposals for reforming the national pension system on 22 July.... Read More

Mexico’s national council for the evaluation of social development policies (Coneval) on 27 July released its latest quarterly report on income poverty trends.... Read More

Interest rate cut: On 25 June the governing committee of Mexico’s central bank (Banxico) announced its unanimous decision to cut the benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 5%, in a further effort to address the economic fallout of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.... Read More