Truckers blockading a major refinery in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais disbanded on Friday, allowing fuel supplies to normalize in the nation's second most populous state, Reuters reported. The protesters, principally truckers who deliver fuel, had been demanding a decrease in taxes on diesel. Since Thursday, they had blocked roads near the REGAP refinery near state capital Belo Horizonte, an action that spooked industry leaders and motorists and caused some gas stations in Minas Gerais to run low on fuel.

Jive Investments, Brazil’s largest distressed-asset manager, plans to raise as much as 7 billion reais ($1.3 billion) next year, looking to capitalize on opportunities created by the coming presidential election, Bloomberg News reported. “There may be a credit contraction and less appetite for Brazil among international investors, so we want to be prepared to allocate a lot of investment during this election scenario,” Guilherme Ferreira, a Jive partner, said in an interview.

Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez said the country is “absolutely” committed to reaching a deal with the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg News reported. Fernandez at the same time made clear that his government won’t risk rushing into an agreement if it’s a poor one for Argentines, in comments delivered at the closing of an event with top business leaders. “We’ll keep discussing until we’re sure we’ll have the resources to make Argentina stand on its own two feet again,” he said.

Peru's gross domestic product expanded 11.83% in August compared with August 2020, marking six straight months of economic growth for the South American country, the government's INEI statistics agency said in a statement on Friday, Reuters reported. The expansion in August was principally driven by the construction and manufacturing sectors, the agency said. In the first eight months of 2021, Peru's economy grew 18.59%, the INEI statement said. In the 12-month period through August, the country's GDP expanded 10.46%, it added.

Oppositional lawmakers in Chile are moving to oust President Sebastian Pinera after the Pandora Papers revealed his involvement in an ethically dubious offshore business deal, The Hill reported. The Chilean president had been “compromising the Nation’s honor and infringing the constitution and the country’s laws,” 17 lawmakers alleged on Wednesday, according to Bloomberg. The move from opposition lawmakers comes amid popular protests against Pinera's government that have surged after the president showed up in the massive leak of financial documents.

The International Monetary Fund’s board of directors turned down a request by Argentina to discuss relief on the commissions the country pays for its record loan, a setback for the government of President Alberto Fernandez, Bloomberg News reported. In an informal meeting held last month, the board rejected a proposal to discuss temporary relief on so-called surcharges, which are the commissions charged to countries that use the lender’s credit lines extensively.

Colombia’s process of normalizing monetary policy after a period of record low interest rates may take about 12 months, according to the governor of the central bank, Bloomberg News reported. “In principle what we know is that we’ll go through a process that may take a year or so, taking the interest rate to a more normal level,” Villar said. Last month, Villar and his colleagues raised the key interest rate for the first time in five years, lifting it a quarter percentage point to 2% as the economy rebounds from last year’s slump.

An association of U.S. businesses in Chile warned on Tuesday that a proposal to allow Chileans to draw money from their pension funds for the fourth time since the coronavirus pandemic began could seriously harm the country's business climate, Reuters reported. Chile's lower chamber of Congress approved the bill late last month, but it faces more resistance in the Senate, where right-leaning lawmakers allied with the administration of President Sebastian Pinera have opposed it. "This new withdrawal of pensions, and particularly of life annuities, ...

After two deadly dam disasters that made Vale SA a pariah of the global green movement, Brazil's largest mining company is striving to put the environment and climate at the heart of its business, Chief Executive Eduardo Bartolomeo told Reuters. Bartolomeo, speaking in an interview at the Reuters Impact conference, said the disasters - which killed nearly 300 people and caused huge environmental damage in Brazil - were a wake up call that forced the company to think differently. "I think everybody woke up. I think the incidents, the tragedies, unfortunately pushed us to open up our minds.

State prosecutors in the state of Minas Gerais have filed a lawsuit seeking 2.5 billion reais ($457 million) from miners Vale, Samarco and BHP related to a tailings dam disaster in 2015, according to a statement on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Prosecutors allege that the companies have not fulfilled the obligations outlined in a settlement agreed in 2018, in which the miners agreed to pay damages to the people affected by the disaster. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.