Brazil & Southern Cone - April 2022

After drawn out negotiations, Argentina finally reached a debt-restructuring agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which was ratified by the IMF’s Board of Directors at the end of March, just in time for Argentina to avoid a default.... Read More

On 25 March the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board of Directors concluded nearly two years of difficult negotiations, approving a US$45bn package to reschedule Argentina’s debts and lay out a new economic stabilisation plan.... Read More

Brazil’s right-wing populist President Jair Bolsonaro has again crossed swords with the management of state-controlled oil company Petrobras.... Read More

As Brazil’s October general election approaches, authorities are particularly preoccupied with how to limit the spread of fake news and the damage it causes to the political debate and quality of democracy.... Read More

On 2 March Chile became the world’s first sovereign borrower to launch a sustainability-linked bond (SLB).... Read More

Uruguay’s long planned referendum on President Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou’s omnibus reform bill, known as the Ley de Urgente Consideración (LUC), was narrowly won by the government with a likely positive impact on the economy.... Read More

It has been a mixed few months for gender rights in Latin America, with notable advances on the one hand, such as the decriminalisation of abortion up to 24 weeks by Colombia’s constitutional court in February, and disheartening setbacks on the other, such as the approval of a restrictive abortion law in Guatemala (although it was ultimately shelved by congress).... Read More

A large-scale anti-narcotics and anti-money laundering operation launched by Paraguayan authorities in February has claimed several political scalps and resulted in the seizure of luxury assets worth millions of US dollars.... Read More

PARAGUAY | Fuel prices rise after subsidies overturned.... Read More