Executives in Latin America’s largest economy are redrawing plans, reprofiling debt and holding back investment as interest rates climb and the currency remains under pressure, Bloomberg News reported. While companies the world over have been contending with higher borrowing costs, Brazilian firms have had an especially tough burden, hit with some of the steepest rates in the world after surviving the pandemic with little government aid. Now rates are going up again after a respite of just over a year.

Colombia’s central bank cut borrowing costs to a two-year low while ignoring President Gustavo Petro’s calls for an even bigger reduction. The board also elected Governor Leonardo Villar for a second four-year term, Bloomberg News reported. The board split once more as it lowered its benchmark rate by half a percentage point to 10.25%, Villar told reporters on Monday. The move was correctly forecast by 20 of 27 economists in a Bloomberg survey, while the others expected a deeper cut, to 10%.

Chile’s economic activity unexpectedly contracted in August on a decline in services, corroborating the central bank’s message that more interest rate cuts are on the way, Bloomberg News reported. The Imacec index, a proxy for gross domestic product, fell 0.2% on the month, matching the worst estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts that had a median forecast of 0.3% growth. From the year earlier, activity gained 2.3%, the central bank reported on Tuesday.

Elliott Investment Management and other U.S. investors have been named as the winning bidder in a court-ordered auction for control of Venezuela’s oil refiner Citgo Petroleum designed to pay down the bankrupt country’s debts, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A special master appointed to sell Venezuela’s shares in Citgo’s parent company is expected to designate a bid backed by Elliott as the best offer following a monthslong auction process overseen by a federal judge, they said.

Brazil’s annual inflation slowed much more than expected in early September despite a hike to utility bills, giving some respite to the central bank as it raises borrowing costs to tame prices, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Wednesday showed prices rose 4.12% from a year earlier, below all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists that had a 4.29% median estimate. On the month, they increased 0.13%.

Brazil’s central bank said all board members supported a gradual start to their cycle of interest rate hikes, falling short of explicitly backing faster increases seen by financial markets going forward, Bloomberg News reported. “All members agreed to start the monetary policy tightening cycle gradually,” central bankers wrote in minutes to their Sept. 17-18 rate meeting, when they raised the benchmark Selic for the first time since 2022, to 10.75%.

For years, Argentina imposed one of the world’s strictest rent-control laws. It was meant to keep homes such as the stately belle epoque apartments of Buenos Aires affordable, but instead, officials here say, rents soared, the Wall Street Journal reported. Now, the country’s new president, Javier Milei, has scrapped the rental law, along with most government price controls, in a fiscal experiment that he is conducting to revive South America’s second-biggest economy. The result: The Argentine capital is undergoing a rental-market boom.

Soccer-mad Brazilians have fallen hard for online sports betting, yielding a boom of interest from foreign gambling companies that may boost state coffers but also threatens to divert funds from consumer spending in other areas, Reuters reported. Latin America's largest economy has seen lower-than-expected growth in consumer spending in the country in recent months, a weakness some banks and think tanks are blaming on gambling. Such a linkage would echo data seen in some U.S. states touched by online gambling fever.

AgroGalaxy’s financial struggles reached a critical point and the company, a major player in Brazil’s agricultural input retail sector, filed for judicial recovery on Sept. 18, the Rio Times reported. The decision to file for judicial recovery came after months of financial turmoil. AgroGalaxy’s board of directors approved the filing, which was submitted to the court under confidential terms. Earlier in the day prior to the filing, a series of high-profile resignations rocked the company’s leadership structure.

Brazilian markets rallied on Thursday as the central bank’s unanimous decision to raise interest rates — and a statement viewed as hawkish — signaled its commitment to getting inflation back to target, Bloomberg News reported. The real trimmed gains after climbing as much as 1.2% versus the dollar, and swap rates jumped, after central bank officials raised the benchmark rate by 25 basis points late Wednesday, just hours after the Federal Reserve delivered its first cut in four years.