Latin America Chart Pack Interest rates close to peaking Policymakers in most of Latin America’s inflation-targeting countries have begun to signal an end to the current cycle of monetary tightening. In the very near term, we still expect the combination of... 28th July 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Colombian rebalancing has further to run On the face of it, there is early hope that the Colombian economy has begun to rebalance away from domestic demand-led and towards export-led manufacturing growth. But with the exchange rate still... 21st July 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Rates should peak this year The recent spike in food inflation has a little further to run and, in most economies, core inflation pressures are building. But even so we still expect headline inflation to start to fall in pretty... 19th July 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Chart Pack Markets continue to struggle Financial markets across Latin America have had a fairly torrid time over the past month or so. Fears of a renewed global slowdown and a subsequent drop in commodity prices, along with worries about... 30th June 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Q1 GDP leaves Colombian policymakers with more work to do Data showing that the Colombian GDP grew at close to 8% annualised in the first quarter of this year, despite the impact of the heaviest rains in three decades, adds to recent evidence that the... 24th June 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Colombian interest rates still have further to rise The Central Bank of Colombia (BANREP) hiked interest rates by 25bps to 4.25% on Friday night. Although policymakers softened their tone from previous meetings, we still expect rising inflation to... 21st June 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Food price shock still has a little further to run Central bankers – and some in the markets – appear increasingly hopeful that the recent spike in food price inflation, which has driven headline inflation above its target in pretty much every country... 17th June 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Colombian rates edge higher The Central Bank of Colombia (BANREP) hiked interest rates by 25bps to 4.0% last night. With domestic demand still driving strong economic growth and inflation likely to peak higher than policymakers... 31st May 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Chart Pack Domestic demand drives decent Q1 growth First quarter GDP data released over the past month confirm what we already knew – most countries in Latin America experienced a strong start to 2011. The problem, however, is that growth is still... 31st May 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economic Outlook Domestic demand set to drive growth The growth outlook for Latin America remains good. GDP growth is likely to slow a little over the coming quarters as external demand weakens and commodity prices come off of the boil, but the domestic... 26th May 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Chart Pack Rising inflation pushes 'currency wars' to the backburner The past month has brought further evidence of rising inflation in Latin America. For the most part, this is still being driven by higher food and energy prices, which in turn are a reflection of the... 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Nudging up our forecast for Colombian rates We are nudging up our end-year forecast for Colombian interest rates to 4.5% (from 4.0%) in response to the recent spike in global commodity prices. 21st March 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economic Outlook The return of inflation? The growth outlook for Latin America remains good but inflation looks set to accelerate over the coming quarters. Further policy tightening is likely in most countries, although in most cases the... 16th March 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update BANREP turns more hawkish, but rate hikes likely to be gradual The Central Bank of Colombia (BANREP) held interest rates at 3.0% last night, as expected. But the accompanying statement was more hawkish than in previous. There is a risk that interest rates will... 1st February 2011 · 1 min read
Latin America Chart Pack Growth to stay strong in 2011 but imbalances will widen The outlook for Latin America in 2011 is, on the whole, pretty good. We expect almost all countries in the region to grow at around their potential rates next year. But while there are few concerns... 21st December 2010 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Could the next move in Brazilian rates be down? The incoming administration in Brazil has a historic opportunity to re-balance the policy mix in favour of tighter fiscal policy and looser monetary policy (and a weaker currency). What’s more, there... 16th December 2010 · 1 min read
