On 1 February América Móvil, a leading Mexico-based telecoms company, controlled by the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim Helú, became the first Latin American company to tap the so called “dim sum” (Chinese renminbi) bond market. It borrowed RMB 1bn (US$158m) for three years, but paid only 3.5% a year in interest for the money to do so. The bonds were issued in Hong Kong via the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC). América Movil said that it needs renminbi to pay for more Chinese built products, particularly network equipment. Business analysts guess that América Movil will soon…

The virtual saturation of the tourism market in Uruguay, and its increasing attraction to the international jet-set, may have prompted middle-class South Americans to look north for their summer holidays in 2012. Costa Rica, which saw a noticeable increase in South American tourism in 2011, expects a repeat performance in 2012. Uruguay’s main tourist destination Punta del Este is straining at its seams. New luxury hotels, charging between US$900 and US$1,300 a night for a room say that they are booked out for the season, which traditionally ends at Carnevale (this year, 21 February 2012). The whole area around Punta…

The drought in the south of Brazil has ended the prospect of a record harvest for the country this year. The official forecast is now for a marginally smaller (0.7%) crop of grains and oilseeds in 2012. The official forecast from the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografía e Estadísticas (IBGE) is now for a crop of 158.7m t, down from the record 159.9m t harvested in 2011. The new forecast follows a field trip by IBGE analysts in January and represents a reduction of 1% on the official forecast for a crop of 160.3m t, published in January. The IBGE officials…

One of big issues in the forthcoming Mexican presidential election will be the next government’s strategy for the state oil monopoly, Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex). The two male presidential candidates, Enrique Peña Nieto, the de facto Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) candidate and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the leftwing candidate, have both made suggestions. Peña Nieto has been talking about opening up Pemex to the private sector for the past three months, though it is far from clear what exactly he envisages. López Obrador advocates a much more statist strategy: increasing Pemex’s downstream activities, particularly in refining, to combat two problems Mexico…

The Minera Los Pelambres, part of the Antofagasta group, controlled by the Luksic family, has announced that it will build the country’s biggest wind farm at a cost of US$270m. Los Pelambres could end up with a 30% stake in the project which should come on stream in 2013. The wind farm will still only supply part of Los Pelambres’ huge power needs. The company needs 280 Gigawatts of power a year. The wind farm will supply about 56GW. Los Pelambres said that it expects to take 80% of the total power produced by the wind farm. The mine has…

Panama’s mining industry is getting used to annual indigenous-led protests against mining and hydro-electric projects. This year, after a week of protests which included two deaths, the government and indigenous groups from the Ngäbe Buglé comarca (an indigenous political administrative region) in Chiriquí, in the west of the country, agreed on 7 February to an eight point deal. The two key points are: an end to the protests (by the indigenous groups) and a promise by the government to resubmit a controversial mining law to congress. The government made an almost identical promise last year to defuse the protests then.…