Latin American Economy & Business - July 2013 (ISSN 1741-7430)

Imagine you have just been appointed the finance minister of a (fictional) Latin American country. You desperately need to raise foreign currency loans. For whatever reason, traditional western banks and international financial institutions (IFIs) are cut off to you – perhaps your country defaulted on its foreign debt in the recent past, or your government dislikes the policy conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), or it has a major political quarrel with Washington. You decide to turn to China. What can you expect?