Latin America

BRAZIL     Brazil’s banks continued their consolidation trend, with the most recent deal in November creating Latin America’s largest financial group. Itaú, Brazil’s second-largest non-state-owned bank, announced its acquisition of Unibanco, the country’s third-largest, in a stock transaction valued ...

LATIN AMERICA President Lula’s bold program of social and economic reform has become a model for economies in Latin America and beyond.   Under Lula, Brasilia has focused on growing the economy in a way that benefits people at all ...

BRAZIL       Oil finds saw Brazil's national petroleum agency ANP reduce new exploration concessions.   While Brazilian officials had touted the country’s resilience to the global financial meltdown, they got a disturbing wake-up call in October as the ...

GLOBAL       Place of principles: Santiago, Chile's capital, where the funds agreed to a series of standards. The International Working Group (IWG) of 26 member countries of the International Monetary Fund last month released a statement of Generally ...

ARGENTINA       Seeing off the debt: Kirchner hopes investors will accept deal.   In a major policy reversal, the Argentine government is reaching out to holdouts from its $100 billion debt workout in which bondholders received a 70% ...

BRAZIL       Petrobras head José Sergio Gabrielli: Prefers debt issue to equity. The Brazilian government is grappling with the reality of new offshore oil discoveries that could produce an estimated 50 billion barrels of oil, according to private ...

ARGENTINA   Don't cry for me: Kirchner's woes deepen as inflation accelerates. While Peru and Brazil crossed the investment-grade threshold this year, Argentina is moving in the opposite direction. Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded Argentina’s foreign and local long-term ...

MEXICO     Mexico's president Felipe Calderón is hoping Ruiz can help get the economy back on track. Faced with the fallout from the US economic slowdown, Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, appointed former businessman Gerardo Ruiz to the country’s top ...

CARIBBEAN FINANCE CENTERS Recent changes are helping the venerable finance centers of the Caribbean stave off increasingly intense international competition.             Partly in response to the US-led assault on their opaque banking systems and propensity ...

BRAZIL     Digging in: Brazilian miner Vale is investing heavily. After several years of steady profit growth, Brazil’s banking sector reported a slowdown in second-quarter 2008. Bradesco, Brazil’s largest non-state bank by assets, posted a 13% drop in second-quarter ...

URUGUAY               Danilo Astori: Businesses' "darling" in presidential race.   Unable to seek reelection, Uruguayan president Tabaré Vázquez has tipped his finance and economy minister to be the ruling Frente Amplio (FA) coalition’s candidate ...

BRAZIL               Mantega: Expects wealth fund to grow sharply.   The Brazilian government increased its primary budget surplus by 0.5% of GDP, or some $7.9 billion, as part of a plan to finance its ...

CHILE               Chile's state-owned copper mine, Codelco, faces opposition over privatization plans.   With the long wave of Latin American privatizations seemingly coming to an end, Chile looks like it might be about to ...

PARAGUAY     Lugo: Promising to improve Paraguay's international standing. Paraguayan president-elect Fernando Lugo, a former Catholic bishop, is the newest member of Latin America’s growing list of left-wing leaders. He faces serious challenges in a country that, until his ...

ARGENTINA   Fernandez: His appointment unsettled financial markets. As he slips into the seat occupied by four others in less than a year, Argentina’s new economy minister, Carlos Fernandez, faces the unenviable task of restoring confidence in his government’s economic ...

BRAZIL     Mantega: Central bank reserves will not be used for wealth fund. After years of speculation over when and if Brazil would achieve a coveted investment-grade rating, the move finally caught almost everyone by surprise. Standard & Poor’s ...

OIL PRODUCER PLANS TO BE BIG SPENDER     Ecopetrol, Colombia’s state-owned oil company, says it hopes to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange later this year, following a further privatization to help finance an aggressive spending ...

BRAZIL     Brazilian mining giant Vale walked away from Xstrata acquisition talks. Vale, the Brazilian mining giant formerly known as CVRD, decided to walk away from its proposed $90 billion acquisition of Swiss miner Xstrata after both sides failed ...

PERU     Peru's president Alan Garcia: Fiscal policies led to upgrade. While analysts debated whether Brazil or Panama would win the race to become the next Latin American investment-grade-rated country, Peru beat both countries to the finish line. Citing ...

Panama     Digging in: Work is now under way on the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal. Although Brazil appears poised to become Latin America’s next investment-grade-rated sovereign, a tiny country may beat the giant to the punch. ...