Latin America Economics Weekly Chile’s protests three years on, COP drop This week marked the third anniversary of a large wave of protests in Chile which set in motion a shift towards looser fiscal policy, have left the political landscape difficult to navigate and caused... 21st October 2022 · 8 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Monetary tightening coming to an end This week Chile’s central bank became the latest in Latin America to bring its tightening cycle to an end. But while there are signs that price pressures are now starting to ease in the region, most... 14th October 2022 · 5 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly The dust settles in Brazil, Petro hits at BanRep The stronger-than-expected performance of Jair Bolsonaro and his right-wing allies in Brazil’s election last Sunday has buoyed the country’s financial markets by reducing the risk of a dramatic shift... 7th October 2022 · 6 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Brazil: what to watch after the election All eyes will be on Brazil’s general election on Sunday and, in this Weekly, we outline five key things to watch in the immediate aftermath of the vote. 30th September 2022 · 6 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Argentina’s Tango with the IMF, tightening cycles This week’s news that Argentina will receive the next tranche of its IMF deal has caused near-term debt risks to ease. But the Fund has still not addressed the overvalued exchange rate, which could... 23rd September 2022 · 8 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Colombia’s fuel subsidies, Brazil’s presidential race The commitment of Colombia’s new administration to address costly energy subsidies is the fiscally responsible thing to do, but it will come at the expense of exacerbating the country’s inflation... 16th September 2022 · 7 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Chile goes back to the drawing board The surprisingly strong rejection of Chile’s proposed new constitution has eased concerns about a radical shake up of the country’s economic model. But the constitutional process is set to continue... 9th September 2022 · 5 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Brazil’s consumer boom, Chile’s referendum The surge in consumer spending in Brazil shown in the Q2 GDP figures released this week was partly driven by temporary government support measures. But improvements in the labour market, coupled with... 2nd September 2022 · 7 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly External risks, Banxico minutes, Massa’s orthodoxy Current account figures released this week go a long way to explaining the diverging performance between the Mexican and the Chilean pesos. While we expect both to weaken over the coming months, there... 26th August 2022 · 7 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Lula’s plan for state banks, Q2 GDP Suggestions this week by Brazil's presidential front runner Lula that state banks will play a bigger role would only aggravate some of the underlying problems in the country’s economy. Elsewhere, the... 19th August 2022 · 5 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Colombia’s tax reform, inflation problems persist The new tax bill unveiled by Colombia’s government, which aims to raise tax revenues to fund the government’s social programmes and “consolidate the fiscal adjustment” doesn’t change our view that the... 12th August 2022 · 6 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Chile’s constitution cost, Massa & Argentina’s mess A recent report suggesting that provisions in Chile’s draft new constitution could increase annual government spending by 9-14% of GDP underscores that the country is shifting towards the state... 5th August 2022 · 6 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Argentina’s new superministry, Chile minutes The appointment of Sergio Massa as head of Argentina’s newly-created economic “superministry” provides some hope that the government will stick to its latest IMF deal but, even so, meeting the Fund’s... 29th July 2022 · 6 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Colombia’s trade deficit, Chilean peso’s rollercoaster The somewhat surprising widening of Colombia’s trade deficit in May suggests that the current account deficit isn’t narrowing as we’d expected. This will keep the peso on the backfoot and the central... 22nd July 2022 · 6 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Brazil’s election giveaways, panic stations in Chile The rapid rise in inflation and sharp falls in the peso have clearly spooked Chile’s central bank and we now expect the policy rate to reach 11.0%, from 9.75% now, which puts us on the hawkish side of... 15th July 2022 · 5 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Argentina, Banxico minutes, Brazil data dump While Argentina’s new finance minister has made some encouraging noises about sticking to the current IMF deal, there’s still no acknowledgement that the real exchange rate needs to weaken to restore... 8th July 2022 · 6 mins read
