Latin America Economics Update Bolsonaro puts trade ahead of fiscal reform at Davos Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro’s headline speech in Davos today suggests that opening up the economy to international trade will be a major priority, something that would boost the economy’s long... 22nd January 2019 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Brazil: why trade liberalisation would help Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro seems to be pushing one of his campaign pledges to liberalise trade and, if successful, history suggests that this might plausibly add as much as 0.75%-pts to... 16th January 2019 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Banxico continues to toe hawkish line The statement accompanying the Mexican central bank’s decision to raise interest rates by another 25bp was very hawkish, suggesting that the board is not done tightening yet. As such, we’re still... 21st December 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Argentina: more to net trade boost than weaker peso GDP data released last night confirmed that Argentina entered a technical recession in Q3 and, while net trade provided a positive contribution to growth, we don’t think that this can be pinned solely... 19th December 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Three questions on Mexico’s airport bond saga The Mexico City airport bond dispute appears to be at an impasse and, if the wrangle drags on, sovereign bond yields are likely to drift up, and Banxico would be more likely to hike interest rates... 18th December 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Amlo’s 2019 budget: tacking back to the centre? The prudent 2019 budget presented by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Amlo) at the weekend is probably an attempt to try to get investors back onside after a series of policy moves which... 17th December 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update BCB takes a dovish turn The Brazilian Central Bank’s (BCB’s) statement from last night’s meeting suggests that interest rates will be left unchanged over the next few months at least. We think a tightening cycle will start... 13th December 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Election not a reason to expect Mexican growth to slow Mexican economic growth has weakened after all but one presidential election since 1950, and there have been growing suggestions that the recent change of government could cause growth to weaken next... 6th December 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Mexico: is energy reform now dead? The decision by Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Amlo) to seemingly postpone Mexico’s deep water oil auctions for three years is unlikely to have a major bearing on oil production in the near term. But it... 5th December 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Chile: Tightening cycle to be quicker than most expect The statement accompanying the Chilean central bank’s decision to hold its policy rate at 2.75% last night suggested that this was only a brief pause in its tightening cycle. We continue to think that... 5th December 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Brazil’s pension reform: what’s at stake? Brazil’s incoming government has given little detail about its proposed (and much-needed) reforms to the country’s pension system. But stabilising the public debt ratio would require reform at the... 4th December 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Lower fuel inflation to be offset by rising food inflation Oil prices are up today, but the recent decline means that inflation will rise more slowly in Latin America over the next few months than we had previously thought. We still expect a majority of... 3rd December 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Amlo: five things that would signal further populist shift Having struck a business-friendly tone after his election, Mexico’s president elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador has more recently begun to unnerve investors. Ahead of his inauguration on Saturday... 29th November 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Argentine peso’s vulnerabilities back in the spotlight A range of factors, including a fall in soybean prices, expectations of central bank intervention and political risk, appears to best explain the recent drop in the Argentine peso against the dollar... 27th November 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Argentine austerity drive a first step on long road ahead Having already hit the IMF’s primary deficit target for this year, Argentine policymakers have made impressive progress on fiscal tightening. But the squeeze so far accounts for only a third of the... 22nd November 2018 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Five questions on Colombia’s tax reform The tax reform introduced to Colombia’s congress is unlikely to pass in its current form, but even a diluted version would result in tighter fiscal policy, higher inflation and, ultimately, more... 12th November 2018 · 1 min read
