Latin American Economy & Business - January 2017 (ISSN 1741-7430)

Not all good ideas take off immediately. One idea – the creation of a single integrated capital market across the four Pacific Alliance countries (Chile, Peru, Colombia and Mexico), and known as the Mercado Integrado Latino Americano (MILA), ticks a lot of important boxes. It may be exactly what is needed as the region tries to get the best out of its limited investment resources at a time of global uncertainty. But it has made a slow start. A new report by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the US-based Wilson Center says that governments must now get the technical details right and give MILA a political boost.