Economy & Business - February 2022

On 28 January, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Argentina said they had reached an “understanding” on key elements of an economic stabilisation programme needed to avert the risk of default.... Read More

For the first time in 25 years and amid continued turmoil in the government led by President Pedro Castillo, Peru’s state oil company PetroPerú is set to drill again.... Read More

The Andean region has not emerged unscathed from the global surge in inflation, with Colombia and Peru reporting seven- and thirteen-year highs, respectively, and Ecuador posting a rise in its consumer price index after a period of deflation.... Read More

President Guillermo Lasso’s government is planning to submit an investment reform bill to the national assembly in February, as the core plank of its plan to improve Ecuador’s business environment with the goal of attracting US$30bn in foreign direct investment (FDI) over its 4-year term.... Read More

ECUADOR | Drilling banned in Yasuní buffer zone.... Read More

Itapemirim Transportes Aéreos (ITA), Brazil’s newest airline, may end up having had a very short and interrupted flight path.... Read More

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), sometimes described as a 38-member club for rich countries, on 25 January formally invited six countries to initiate membership negotiations.... Read More

On 14 January a Chilean appeals court suspended two government-awarded lithium tenders, together worth US$121m, that had been awarded two days earlier to a Chilean and a Chinese company.... Read More

URUGUAY | Unemployment falls to lowest point in four years.... Read More

On 18 January Panama’s President Laurentino Cortizo announced that a new contract had been agreed to reopen a controversial open-pit gold and copper mine.... Read More

Guatemala’s President Alejandro Giammattei used a speech on 14 January making the mid-way point of his four-year term to hail strong GDP growth and foreign direct investment (FDI) figures.... Read More

On 26 January, Guyana’s finance minister Ashni Singh presented the 2022 budget in which total expenditure is 36.8% above last year.... Read More

*** BAHAMAS TARGETING FISCAL DEFICIT.... Read More

EL SALVADOR | IMF urges gov’t to remove bitcoin’s legal tender status.... Read More

US-based investment bank and financial services corporation Citigroup Inc announced on 11 January that it planned to sell its Mexican retail banking business, Citibanamex.... Read More

On 11 January, Mexico’s central bank Banco de México (Banxico) disclosed that outflows of debt instrument capital reached record levels during 2021.... Read More

Mexico’s state-owned oil company Pemex formally took over the Deer Park refinery in Houston, Texas, on 20 January after it bought a 50% interest in the refinery from Anglo-Dutch multinational oil firm Royal Dutch Shell to become its sole owner.... Read More

The prices of agricultural products recorded a steep rise during 2021.... Read More

MEXICO | Mexico sees record remittances in 2021.... Read More