Paraguay will continue to dial back pandemic stimulus next year as a fast growing economy cushions austerity measures that have proved unpopular in other South American countries, Bloomberg News reported. The government has already reduced temporary pandemic cash transfers to people working in the country’s vast informal sector without triggering social unrest, Finance Minister Oscar Llamosas said in an interview. “The task of adjusting fiscal accounts was largely done this year, and the idea is to continue that in next year’s budget,” Llamosas said.

A majority of Brazil’s Supreme Court justices have voted to uphold the constitutionality of a law granting the central bank formal autonomy, a key piece of legislation considered by investors as a victory for monetary policy making in Latin America’s largest economy, Bloomberg News reported. Eight justices voted in support of the law on Thursday, and two against.

Brazil's Supreme Court will debate on Wednesday whether a law to establish the autonomy of the central bank, insulating it from political interference, is constitutional or not, Reuters reported. The law does not change the way the bank sets interest rates but distances it from politics by setting fixed four-year terms for its governor and directors that will no longer coincide with the presidential election cycle. Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro signed the measure into law in February, but two left-wing parties have questioned whether it violates the country's constitution.

South Africa’s finance industry recorded the largest decrease in employment in the second quarter, pushing the nation’s jobless rate to the highest in the world, Bloomberg News reported. The number of people employed in the finance industry plunged by 278,000 to 2.25 million in the three months through June, Statistics South Africa said in a report released Tuesday in the capital, Pretoria. The official unemployment rate rose to 34.4%, the highest on a global list of 82 countries monitored by Bloomberg.

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has begun expressing irritation at the central bank’s newfound autonomy as surging inflation presents a threat to his 2022 reelection prospects, government officials told The Associated Press. On Thursday, during a flight home from Mato Grosso state, Bolsonaro said that he regretted signing the bill into law earlier this year that granted the bank autonomy, a high-level official aboard told the AP.

Brazilian prosecutors asked a bankruptcy court on Wednesday to compel miners Vale SA and BHP Group Ltd to fully pay offtheir Samarco joint venture's 50.7 billion reais ($9.47 billion) debt, according to a court document reviewed by Reuters. Samarco filed for bankruptcy protection in April as it struggled to restructure its debt, which it stopped servicing after a dam burst at a mine in 2015, killing 19 people, releasing a giant torrent of sludge and halting production.

Swiss-Irish food group Aryzta has agreed a new €500 million revolving credit facility with three banks and has announced the disposal of its Brazilian businesses, the Irish Times reported. No financial details have been disclosed on the sale of the Brazilian subsidiaries to Grupo Bimbo SAB de CV. The transaction is expected to close shortly. Aryzta said the new credit facility, which is expected to be used by early October, is underwritten by Credit Suisse, Rabobank and UBS. It replaces the group’s current €800 million facility, which maters in September 2022.

Chile’s economy beat expectations in the second quarter as billions of dollars in fiscal stimulus triggered a retail sales frenzy during the pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product grew 1% from the first quarter, more than the 0.7% median estimate from analysts in a Bloomberg survey. The economy expanded 18.1% from a year prior, the central bank reported on Wednesday.

Argentina’s central bank is making it harder for investors to buy dollars as the already draconian capital controls fail to stop the gap between the official and parallel exchange rates from widening, Bloomberg News reported. Regulators are tightening the screws on operations where investors buy assets in pesos and sell them abroad in dollars to obtain foreign currency. The measures, aimed at money laundering and tax evasion, were announced late Thursday. It’s the latest set of controls to prevent dollars flowing out of Argentina’s crippled economy.

Colombia’s flag carrier Avianca has submitted a reorganisation plan to a US bankruptcy court, Flight Global reported. The Bogota-based airline’s plan, submitted to the bankruptcy court for the Southern District of New York on 10 August, outlines its obligations to creditors and the settlement of claims. It says a new strategy will help it simplify operations and position Avianca to thrive in the Latin American market. Avianca and its Latin American peers Aeromexico and LATAM Airlines declared bankruptcy last year after the coronavirus decimated global air travel demand.