Latin America Economics Update Recovery gains momentum The past month has seen Latin American financial markets perform fairly well, building on the momentum of March’s rebound. But despite the recent gains, we expect some renewed downside this year amid... 23rd April 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update External vulnerabilities mean weak growth, not crisis We have been warning for a very long time that the recent period of strong growth in Latin America has been built on shaky foundations. With external vulnerabilities mounting, several countries in the... 14th April 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Peru: Rates on hold – some small cuts possible this year Peruvian interest rates were left unchanged at 4% last night and we think that high inflation and a large current account deficit mean that there is little room for aggressive easing this year as... 11th April 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Focus Pacific Alliance: Trading up? The Pacific Alliance pact has raised hopes of a boom in intra-regional trade, but the high degree of overlap between the export baskets of the member nations makes that unlikely. Nonetheless, the... 9th April 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Mexican industry set to pick up, despite drop in PMI Brazil’s manufacturing PMI picked up a little in March, while Mexico’s manufacturing PMI edged down. But the bigger picture is that Brazil’s manufacturing sector is still barely growing. By contrast... 1st April 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Markets steady after January rout Latin America’s financial markets stabilised in March after a woeful start to the year. In most countries, currencies and equity markets made modest gains. Colombia’s financial markets performed... 27th March 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Chart Pack A Slow start to 2014 There have been further signs during the past month that Latin America has entered a new era of sluggish economic growth. With most of the official data for the fourth quarter now released, our... 26th March 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economic Outlook Growth to stay weak as commodity boom ends The world economy is recovering, but we expect growth in Latin America to continue to trudge along at a rate of 2.5-3.0% over the coming years. Sluggish growth will be due in part to less supportive... 21st March 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Peru and Chile: limited room for interest rate cuts this year The central bank of Chile (BCC) last night cut interest rates in response to a pronounced slowdown in economic growth, while Peruvian interest rates were left on hold after a pick-up in activity at... 14th March 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Structural change in China: who is most vulnerable? The past week has seen renewed concern that a slowdown in China will drag on growth in the rest of the emerging world, including Latin America. We think some of these concerns are justified. But while... 13th March 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Chart Pack Venezuela’s economic crisis deepens Venezuela’s government has responded to the eruption of violent protests in the country over the past month with yet another overhaul of its exchange rate system – the aim being to provide more... 28th February 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Calm returns to Lat. Am. markets Following the turmoil experienced during the first few weeks of this year, financial markets across much of Latin America have stabilised over the past month. In most countries, bond yields have... 25th February 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Peru: GDP growth picks up but devil is in the detail Peru’s economy picked up pace in the final quarter of last year. But the improvement in the headline GDP figure masks concerns about the underlying balance of growth. While domestic demand remains... 24th February 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Latin America’s wasted decade Concerns about widening current account deficits have been a key factor driving the recent turbulence in financial markets in Latin America. But while the deterioration in the current account... 18th February 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Peru: no rate cuts for now Despite the recent economic slowdown, high inflation and a widening current account deficit mean that the Peruvian Central Bank will probably have to keep monetary conditions tighter than they would... 14th February 2014 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update No evidence that weaker currencies are fuelling higher inflation Inflation was lower-than-expected across much of Latin America last month, which may help to dampen fears that weak currencies will fuel higher inflation. Despite this, another 50bp interest rate hike... 7th February 2014 · 1 min read
