Latin America Economics Update Chile’s central bank paves the way for July rate cut The Monetary Policy Report released by Chile’s central bank today alongside the communications to yesterday’s policy meeting have reinforced our view that the easing cycle will commence in July. We... 20th June 2023 · 3 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Strong wage growth to temper falls in inflation and rates The tightening of labour markets across Latin America in the past year or so has fuelled rapid wage growth in many economies and wage growth is likely to remain uncomfortably high for a while yet... 15th June 2023 · 2 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Brazil: labour market strength likely to worry Copom The latest data suggest that Brazil’s labour market isn’t softening as quickly as we and many others (not least the central bank) had anticipated. That’s keeping wage growth high and, while that may... 1st June 2023 · 3 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Colombia’s imbalanced recovery can’t be sustained Colombia’s very strong post-pandemic recovery has come at the expense of a build-up of large macroeconomic imbalances and a period of below-trend growth is needed to reduce these vulnerabilities. The... 25th May 2023 · 3 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Update Takeaways from our EM roundtables Over the past couple of weeks we have held a series of roundtable discussions with clients across Asia and North America on the outlook for EMs. In this Update we provide our thoughts on the recurring... 19th May 2023 · 6 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Banxico to keep rates high for longer than most expect Mexico’s central bank held its policy rate at 11.25% at today’s Board meeting, bringing the tightening cycle to an end. But with inflation unlikely to return to target until late-2024, policy will... 18th May 2023 · 4 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Best of Mexico’s recovery now over Mexico’s economy has put in a decent performance over the past year or so, but we think that most of the factors that have supported robust growth have now run their course. Tight policy and a looming... 17th May 2023 · 3 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Colombia: strong start to the year unlikely to be sustained The stronger-than-expected Q1 GDP data from Colombia suggest that the risks to our forecast for the economy to expand by 0.8% over 2023 as a whole are skewed to the upside. That said, there were signs... 16th May 2023 · 2 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Ecuador: political turmoil brings default risks back The looming impeachment trial of Ecuador’s president Guillermo Lasso marks a further intensification of the country’s political crisis and suggests that the recent experiment with market-friendly... 10th May 2023 · 6 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Update How feasible is a BRICS currency? Over the weekend, President-elect Donald Trump threatened a 100% import tariff on the BRICS countries unless they pledge not to create their own currency. In this note from 2023, we outlined the... 4th May 2023 · 6 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Copom pours cold water on near-term rate cut hopes Brazilian policymakers gave a firm push back against any expectations for imminent monetary easing at yesterday’s central bank meeting, supporting our view that interest rates will be lowered a bit... 4th May 2023 · 3 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Strength in exports unlikely to last The surge in exports from Latin America’s major economies in March suggests that the upside risks to our GDP growth and currency forecasts are building. But with advanced economies poised to fall into... 3rd May 2023 · 3 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Colombia: political risks back in the spotlight The replacement of Colombia’s market-friendly finance minister José Antonio Ocampo with a close ally of President Petro is likely to lead to a sell-off in Colombia’s financial assets when markets open... 27th April 2023 · 3 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Can Chile’s private sector cope with higher interest rates? There’s little evidence (so far) that the surge in interest rate is leading to widespread debt servicing problems in Chile’s private sector, but there are pockets of vulnerability in the household... 25th April 2023 · 4 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Chile’s central bank: still focused on inflation risks The Monetary Policy Report released by Chile’s central bank today revealed that policymakers are more concerned about inflation risks than we’d thought. We still think that Chile’s central bank will... 5th April 2023 · 3 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Drought to push Argentina’s economy into deep recession The historic drought afflicting Argentina will cause a steeper contraction in GDP than most expect this year and intensify balance of payments strains by reducing export earnings to the tune of 2-3%... 5th April 2023 · 3 mins read
