Brazil's central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto said on Monday that policymakers believe inflation expectations should stabilize and improve over time, after recently citing concerns about them deviating from the official target, Reuters reported. "It is generally possible to be optimistic when we look at the reasons (for the unanchoring of inflation expectations)," he said at an event organized by the business group Lide in Sao Paulo.
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Venezuela’s opposition is weighing a move that would slow the sale of oil assets under its control by having Citgo Petroleum Corp.’s holding company file for bankruptcy in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported. Opposition-appointed Petroleos de Venezuela executives are seeking to retain control of their most important overseas asset, which is up for auction, and are mulling using a U.S. chapter 11 filing to block finalization of its sale, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the tactic.
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Brazil's Superior Court of Justice has denied state-run oil company Petrobras an appeal against the collection of some 987 million reais ($192.68 million) in taxes, the company said late on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The taxes relate to sales of oil derivatives from March 2002 to October 2003, Petrobras said in a securities filing. The firm said it would assess whether a fresh appeal could be lodged against the decision.
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Unigel, the struggling Brazilian fertilizer maker, obtained approval from a majority of creditors including Pacific Investment Management Co. for its out-of-court restructuring plan, Bloomberg News reported. Holders of more than 50% of its debt backed the proposal, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak about it. The company had until Monday to gather support from more than 50% of creditors and avoid a bankruptcy filing. Unigel didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
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Argentina risks struggling to service some of its debt if it’s forced to pay out $1.5 billion in damages a UK court awarded to investors last year, lawyers for the South American nation have warned, Bloomberg News reported. Hedge funds including Palladian Partners LP last year won a UK High Court ruling that Argentina must compensate investors for losses in the country’s growth-linked securities after it changed the method of calculating gross domestic product.
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Brazil's central bank announced on Monday that it has decided to divide the process of regulating crypto-assets and virtual asset service providers into phases, with regulatory proposals expected by the end of this year, Reuters reported. The decision effectively delays the completion of the process following a 2022 law on the subject, which paved the way for subsequent regulation by the central bank. In a congressional hearing last year, the bank's director of regulation, Otavio Damaso, had projected regulation to be wrapped up by June 2024.
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Chile’s economy recorded the fastest quarterly growth since 2021, when government stimulus fueled domestic demand during the pandemic, as both mining output and consumption increased while slowing inflation and falling interest rates provided much-needed relief, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product rose 1.9% in the first quarter compared with the prior three months, a tad less than the 2% median forecast from analysts in a Bloomberg survey. From a year ago, the economy expanded 2.3%, the central bank reported on Monday.
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Consolidation would lower the cost of capital for Latin American airlines, resulting in better services for customers, according to Azul SA Chief Executive Officer John Peter Rodgerson, Bloomberg News reported. “We’ve always been big believers in consolidation,” Rodgerson said in an interview in New York Wednesday. “The product improves for customers, and it could really strengthen a great market in Brazil that we’re seeing today.” Rodgerson declined to comment on “active” M&A processes.
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Bidders in a U.S. court auction of shares that will decide the ownership of Venezuela-owned U.S. oil refiner Citgo Petroleum can be required to say if their binding offers cover claims by Venezuela bondholders in a separate court action, a U.S. District Court judge ruled on Friday, Reuters reported. The decision lets bidders seeking to place multi-billion dollar offers for a Citgo parent's shares to be asked if they plan to set aside cash or consider how they may accommodate Venezuela 2020 note holders seeking payment of $3 billion in principal debt.
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Millions of Colombians will need to pay two new fees on their pension savings according to latest draft of the pension bill sent to the Lower House on Friday, Bloomberg News reported. Lawmakers modified the bill to allow fund managers to charge a fee of as much as 2% on profits, while also retaining a controversial annual fee of up to 0.7% on assets under management. Currently, so-called obligatory pension funds charge a fee upfront, but nothing after that. Congress defied calls by President Gustavo Petro to push more savings automatically into the public system.
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