The International Monetary Fund’s executive board is set to review Argentina’s current $44 billion aid program next month, according to people familiar with the matter, a crucial step as President Javier Milei negotiates for a new loan, Bloomberg News reported. The board is tentatively set to meet in early January to evaluate a staff report on the agreement Argentina struck with the IMF in 2022, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as the details haven’t been made public.

After months of rancor, ties between President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Brazil's central bank look poised for an era of sweetness and light - which is precisely what worries some investors, Reuters reported. Gabriel Galipolo, 42, is set to take the reins at the bank on Wednesday. The former deputy finance minister has earned a reputation for economic views that sometimes stray from his predecessor's embrace of free markets but warm the hearts of left-leaning politicians.

Argentina’s economy expanded more than expected in October, continuing to show signs of recovery after surpassing growth forecasts in the third quarter too, Bloomberg News reported. Economic activity rose 0.6% from September, more than the 0.2% median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. From a year ago, activity fell 0.7%, according to government data published Friday. Wages in Argentina also grew 4.6% in October from September, surpassing monthly inflation for the seventh straight month after price increases wiped out paychecks earlier in the year.

Colombia’s central bank unexpectedly slowed its monetary easing campaign as fiscal concerns are weakening the nation’s currency and adding to inflation risks, Bloomberg News reported. The seven-member board voted to lower the benchmark rate to 9.5%, Governor Leonardo Villar said after their meeting Friday. The move was forecast by only one of 30 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. All the others predicted a cut to 9.25%. The decision was split, with five board members backing the cut of 25 basis points, one voting for 50 basis points and another for 75 basis points.

Chile’s central bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter point for the third meeting and delivered a stern warning on short-term inflation challenges, raising the odds of a coming pause to its easing cycle, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers led by Rosanna Costa voted unanimously to lower borrowing costs to 5% late Tuesday, as expected by all analysts in a Bloomberg survey except three who forecast no change. Rates have tumbled from 11.25% in mid-2023. In an accompanying statement, policymakers wrote that the inflation outlook has become more daunting.

Argentina is weighing whether to introduce a managed exchange rate regime — a “dirty float” — once it lifts its current foreign exchange controls in 2025, according to policymakers, Bloomberg News reported. The South American nation has been restricting foreign exchange and capital market operations for the past five years, forcing exporters to sell their dollars. The controls are also preventing companies from sending dividends abroad and limiting individuals from buying foreign currency.

Ecuador has completed its second debt-for-nature swap, this time unlocking $460 million to protect and manage the forests and wetlands of its Amazon rainforest, NGO The Nature Conservancy said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. By buying-back over $1.5 billion of its discounted existing bonds with cheaper new money, Ecuador will realise almost half a billion dollars of savings over a 17-year period to invest in conserving the terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems of the Amazon.

Argentina's economy is expected to have contracted 2.6% in the third quarter of 2024 versus a year earlier, the sixth straight such decline, but expanded against the quarter before, breaking a technical recession going back to the end of last year, Reuters reported. A Reuters poll on Thursday, involving 13 local and foreign analysts, gave the year-on-year contraction of gross domestic product (GDP), which follows a 1.7% contraction in the second quarter and a steep 5.1% drop in the first quarter.

Argentina’s monthly inflation slowed to the lowest level since July 2020, handing President Javier Milei another victory on voters’ biggest concern a year after taking office, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 2.4% in November, compared with the 2.8% median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Annual inflation slowed to 166%, according to government data published Wednesday.