Costa Rican authorities executed dozens of searches and arrests Monday as part of a sprawling public corruption investigation centered on the awarding of road construction and maintenance contracts, the Associated Press reported. Walter Espinoza, director of the Judicial Investigation Organization, said it was one of the most impactful public corruption investigations ever. With bribes ranging from vehicles to properties, cash and personal favors, a group of private companies ensured that public officials helped them win and pad government contracts, Espinoza said. At 7 a.m.
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Resources Per Country
- Anguilla
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bermuda
- British Virgin Islands
- Canada
- Cayman Islands
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- El Salvador
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Mexico
- Montserrat
- Netherlands Antilles
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- United States
- United States Virgin Islands
El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender may imply a series of risks and regulatory challenges, International Monetary Fund spokesman Gerry Rice said on Thursday, Bloomberg News reported. “Adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender raises a number of macroeconomic, financial and legal issues that require very careful analysis so we are following developments closely and will continue our consultation with authorities,” Rice said, speaking in Washington.
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President Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to counter the influence of autocratic states during their first in-person meeting on Thursday and looked to smooth over disagreements regarding a complex arrangement to manage trade and preserve peace in Northern Ireland after Brexit, the Wall Street Journal reported. Ahead of the Group of Seven meeting this week, the two leaders backed a wide-ranging document that charts a path forward from a global pandemic that has killed millions, as the virus continues spreading in some parts of the world.
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The Bank of Canada said on Thursday that inflation could remain higher than projected if supply imbalances and pressures on capacity persist, which might lead it to reduce stimulus more quickly than currently expected, Reuters reported. When asked during a news conference if above-target inflation could be a sign there is less slack in the economy than the central bank is projecting, Deputy Governor Tim Lane said it was a “certainly a possibility.” Inflation hit 3.4% in April, its fastest pace in a decade, mostly due to base-year effects and high commodity prices.
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El Salvador passed a new law on Wednesday that would make the small Central American country the world’s first to deem bitcoin legal tender, a move that analysts say risks putting its economy at the mercy of the digital currency’s sharp swings, the Wall Street Journal reported. The designation allows bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value, to be used to buy goods and pay taxes and bank loans. Businesses would be required to accept bitcoin for payment, with the bitcoin-dollar exchange rate set by the market.
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A surge in mortgage borrowing is pushing consumer debt loads higher in Canada despite falling credit card use, as households plow more money into their homes while spending less on everything else, Bloomberg News reported. New mortgage borrowing rose 41% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2020, when the pandemic began, according to a release Tuesday from consumer credit reporting firm Equifax Inc. The average limit on new mortgages -- the amount for which borrowers were approved -- jumped more than 20% to C$326,930 ($270,490).
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Mexican airline Interjet hopes to strike a deal with creditors within a year so it can re-start operations after it shut down during the coronavirus pandemic in December, the firm representing it in the debt talks said, Reuters reported. Shareholders of the carrier owned by ABC Aerolineas reached an agreement in April for Interjet to seek commercial bankruptcy to allow it to restructure $1.25 billion in liabilities. Interjet had also been struggling before the pandemic.
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The president and vice-chancellor of Laurentian University said that he did reach out to both the provincial and federal governments and was transparent about the university's financial difficulties prior to seeking creditor protection on February 1st, CBC News reported. Robert Haché made that comment during an appearance at the Standing Committee on Official Languages on Thursday. Haché was questioned by both Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre and Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus.
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Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre says more could have been done to help Laurentian University before it declared itself financially insolvent, but a lack of communication stymied the process, CBC News reported. Laurentian's restructuring under the insolvency process allows it to stay operating while dealing with its financial situation, but dozens of programs and staff have been cut. Lefebvre said that when he met with Laurentian officials in December 2020, there was no mention of cutting 100 professors and another 80 staff. The university announced it had entered insolvency proceedings on Feb. 1.
Authorities in Brazil are investigating senior employees at Connecticut-based trading house Freepoint Commodities for their alleged role in a bribery scheme involving state-run oil company Petrobras, Reuters has learned. Federal police here suspect Freepoint, through an intermediary, routed bribes to Petrobras employees for a roughly seven-year period ending in 2018. Reuters pieced together the purported kickback operation from three people close to the investigation, and hundreds of pages of previously unreported court documents filed by Brazilian investigators.
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