Economy & Business - March 2022

Foreign direct investment (FDI) net flows to Mexico totalled US$31.6bn in 2021, according to preliminary figures released by Mexico’s economy ministry (SE) on 21 February.... Read More

Months after its “worst-ever” ecological catastrophe, as President Pedro Castillo called the 12,000-barrel oil spill at Respsol’s La Pampilla refinery, 30km north of Lima, Peru’s lax environmental regulation has also been exposed.... Read More

A 26 January report by Bolivia’s national statistics institute (INE) highlighted a notable improvement in poverty rates in Bolivia in 2021.... Read More

Ecuador’s fiscal deficit has fallen significantly from over US$7bn in 2020 (around 7% of GDP), to US$3.7bn in 2021 (around 3.5% of GDP) in 2021, thanks to a recovery in tax and oil revenue as well as adjustments in spending.... Read More

COLOMBIA | Tariffs suspended in response to inflation.... Read More

Interest in cryptocurrencies is on the rise throughout Latin America.... Read More

The Brazilian agriculture and livestock sector came to the rescue in the fourth quarter of last year, doing its bit to help pull the country out of a technical recession.... Read More

At the very high end of the value-added export spectrum, Brazil’s aerospace company Embraer is developing eVTOLs (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft).... Read More

As Paraguay suffers from a record drought, this year’s harvest is likely to be “the worst since the beginning of large-scale agricultural production”, the country’s agriculture & livestock minister, Santiago Moisés Bertoni, recently warned.... Read More

Export data for the first two months of the year suggests Uruguay is progressing with its diversification efforts.... Read More

BRAZIL | Tax cut to spur ‘reindustrialisation’.... Read More

On 10 February, Nicaragua’s government led by President Daniel Ortega announced plans for closer cooperation with Russia’s state atomic energy corporation Rosatom on energy, medical, and nuclear projects.... Read More

Even those countries popular with tourists prior to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic have struggled to recover visitor numbers as the pandemic has ebbed and flowed, but a number of regional initiatives are working to boost the industry.... Read More

February 2022 was a busy month in the Caribbean for the International Monetary Fund (IMF).... Read More

COSTA RICA | Exporting pineapples to Israel.... Read More

In a report published on 21 February, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) noted that Mexico has been a pioneer among emerging economies in climate change mitigation.... Read More

Workers at two auto industry plants in Mexico have elected independent trade unions to represent them in recent weeks, in votes that have been touted by US Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai as a victory for workers’ right.... Read More

Mexico’s agriculture and rural development ministry (Sader) revealed on 12 February that US authorities had suspended avocado shipments from Mexico, the world’s main avocado producer.... Read More

MEXICO | Private sector lowers 2022 growth forecast.... Read More