Economy

• Saturday, March 6th 2021 - 09:23 UTC

  Pandemic has pushed 20 million Latin Americans into poverty, UN report

  

  More than 20 million people were pushed into poverty during pandemic-plagued 2020 across Latin America and the Caribbean, the U.N. economic agency for the region announced this week.

• Friday, March 5th 2021 - 08:25 UTC

  Brazilian soy exports in March should reach 15 million tons: 250 ships waiting to load

  

  Brazilian soy shipments this month should reach 15 million tons, which could establish a new record for a month, according to the maritime agency Cargonave, considering the 250 ships in the export line-up, a growth of more than 40% compared to the number seen in the same period last year.

• Friday, March 5th 2021 - 08:00 UTC

  The Haves and Have-nots of the Digital Age

  

  By Gita Bhatt (*) – Accelerated by the pandemic, the digital future is coming at us faster than ever before, and maybe faster than we can imagine. In this issue, we explore the possible consequences —the good, the bad, and the gray.

• Thursday, March 4th 2021 - 09:24 UTC

  Argentina's banks face a tough year: bad loans, inflation and regulations

  

  Rising inflation plus bad loans and government regulations anticipate a tough 2021 according to the CEO of Argentina's biggest private bank by market capitalization. “If inflation is high, there is a risk that bank results will fall to very low or negative levels in real terms,” Fabian Kon said in an interview in Buenos Aires.

• Thursday, March 4th 2021 - 07:07 UTC

  Argentina and the IMF: Another Default in the Works?

  

  By Arturo Porzecanski (*) The following was published in the Americas Quarterly, a contribution from a leading emerging-market economist writes. The seeds for the latest chapter in Argentina’s long history of confrontations with the International Monetary Fund were planted about a year ago, on the eve of the global pandemic.

• Wednesday, March 3rd 2021 - 09:56 UTC

  Uruguayan president addresses Congress and anticipates a year of structural reforms

  

  Uruguayan president Luis Lacalle Pou addressed Congress on Tuesday to report on his first year and one day in office, underlining the extraordinary 2020 pandemic year which surprised the world, and Uruguay, but he also made several announcements referred to future activities and investments.

• Wednesday, March 3rd 2021 - 08:40 UTC

  Brazil's currency losing ground: central bank chief says it is not justified by economic fundamentals

  

  With public finances threatened, Brazil’s Real has suffered as investors adjust to changing liquidity conditions globally, but some of it has not been justified by economic fundamentals, central bank President Roberto Campos Neto said on Tuesday.

• Wednesday, March 3rd 2021 - 08:38 UTC

  Producer price inflation in Brazil anticipates Central bank will raise interest rates

  

  Brazil's statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday the monthly rate of producer price inflation kicked off this year at its second highest, with prices rising across all 24 activities surveyed.

• Tuesday, March 2nd 2021 - 09:58 UTC

  Argentine president attacks opposition, Judiciary, media and economic powers

  

  In a defiant speech before the Legislative that launched the campaign for the October midterm elections, Argentine president Alberto Fernandez on Monday opened the 139th Congressional period of ordinary sessions with a barrage of attacks on the opposition, Judiciary, media and the concentrated economic powers.

• Tuesday, March 2nd 2021 - 09:54 UTC

  Bolsonaro promises to sign on Tuesday a decree suspending a tax on diesel to prevent a truckers strike

  

  Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Tuesday he would suspend a tax on diesel fuel, to try and placate truckers, but the government would instead hike taxes on banks to offset lost revenue.