South America

Argentina has added more than 100 consumer products to a controversial price control program as the government grapples with one of the highest rates of inflation in the world, The Wall Street Journal reported. Inflation is widely thought to be more than 30% following the devaluation of the Argentine peso in January and the government's habit of financing deficits through money printing. Instead of making unpopular spending cuts to tame inflation, President Cristina Kirchner has capped prices on almost 200 basic consumer goods and almost doubled benchmark interest rates.

The world’s largest banks still receive implicit public subsidies worth as much as $590bn because of their status as “too big to fail” and the assumption of a government bailout if they get into trouble, the International Monetary Fund warned on Monday, the Financial Times reported. The warning, to be included in the fund’s twice-yearly Global Financial Stability Report, highlights the failure of post-financial crisis reforms to solve the problem of too-big-to-fail despite a vigorous lobbying campaign by the largest banks claiming it is no longer an issue.

Argentina has been approached by financial institutions offering it loans at favorable rates, the economy ministry said on Sunday, marking a tentative reopening of international credit markets for the first time in over a decade, Reuters reported. The economy ministry issued a statement on Sunday, saying it had received offers of credit from abroad. It did not name the institutions. "In recent weeks ...

Brazilian shipbuilder OSX Brasil SA has 60 days to present its restructuring plan under bankruptcy legislation now that a new judge has been appointed to the case, the company said in a filing on Friday, Reuters reported. The Third Commercial Section of the Rio de Janeiro-State Justice Tribunal will hear the case and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu will act as trustee responsible for conducting the judicial process, the filing said. The deadline to file was suspended last month while another court reviewed a challenge to OSX's Nov. 11 bankruptcy protection filing.

Struggling Colombian banana marketer Banacol announced a financial restructuring plan last week in a bid to deal with mounting financial pressures, FruitNet.com reported. According to a report in Elcolombiano.com, the company is facing debts of US$184m resulting from high production costs, low banana pricing and a poor exchange rate. The company’s assets are valued at US$209m. The Colombian government has appointed a supervisory body to oversee the reorganisation of Banacol’s finances.

The board of OSX Brasil SA, the shipbuilder controlled by former Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista, approved key terms of the restructuring plan for its leasing unit, according to a filing on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Last week the unit, OSX 3 Leasing BV, reached a preliminary agreement to pay creditors more interest on $500 million of defaulted bonds, and said it would retroactively raise the coupon to 13 percent from 9.25 percent. The plan still needs formal approval from creditors.

Óleo e Gás Participações SA, the Brazilian oil producer currently under bankruptcy protection, received the first portion of a debt-in-possession financing package, according to a statement on Thursday. The company received $125 million in the so-called DIP loan, of a total $215 million that were pledged by creditors, the company added, Reuters reported. The company was formerly known as OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações SA.

The amount of debt globally has soared more than 40 percent to $100 trillion since the first signs of the financial crisis as governments borrowed to pull their economies out of recession and companies took advantage of record low interest rates, according to the Bank for International Settlements, Bloomberg reported. The $30 trillion increase from $70 trillion between mid-2007 and mid-2013 compares with a $3.86 trillion decline in the value of equities to $53.8 trillion in the same period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

A Brazilian court has suspended the deadline for shipbuilder OSX Brasil SA to present its restructuring plan under bankruptcy legislation until a new judge is appointed to the case, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The 60-day deadline to file the plan was already suspended in January while another court reviewed a challenge to OSX's Nov. 11 bankruptcy protection filing. The new deadline will be set once the case is formally transferred to a new judge.

A Brazilian court has barred shipbuilder and ship-leaser OSX Brasil SA from joining its bankruptcy protection petition to that of Oleo e Gas Participações SA, the oil company controlled by former billionaire Eike Batista, Reuters reported. Judges of the 14th civil division of the Rio de Janeiro State Justice Tribunal made the ruling in response to a request by Spanish construction company Acciona to keep the bankruptcy filings separate, the court's press office said on Thursday. The decision was handed down on Wednesday but has yet to be officially published, the press office said.