South America

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA plans to restructure its balance sheet yet again as it buckles under a heavy debt load and the high costs of operating an airline in Brazil, Bloomberg News reported. Gol hired Seabury Capital to help review its debt and other financial obligations, and free up cash by renegotiating its deals with lessors, the company said in a filing Friday. The move triggered a downgrade to CCC- from CCC+ by S&P Global Ratings, which warned of room for a further cut amid refinancing risks.

Brazil's government aims to extend the deadline for its broad consumer debt renegotiation program "Desenrola" by an additional three months, said a top Economy Ministry official on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The original closing date was set for the end of this year. As a campaign promise of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the government launched the program to ease the financial burden on families, strained by the pandemic and high borrowing costs following a previous inflation surge.

Brazil's economy avoided contraction in the third quarter, extending a run of better-than-expected growth, even as it slowed sharply due to falling investment and the fading impact of a robust harvest to start the year, Reuters reported. Latin America's largest economy grew by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in the three months through September, government statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday. Economists had forecast a 0.2% drop in a Reuters poll.

Brazil's central bank chief, Roberto Campos Neto, said on Monday that the bank successfully overcame some challenges to its autonomy posed by the new administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, despite what he termed some "noises" in the past year, Reuters reported. Speaking at an institutional event, he said the central bank managed to maintain decisions based on technical guidelines throughout this new government in which, for the first time, the new executive branch had to coexist with a central bank chief chosen by the previous administration.

A Chilean wind farm operator backed by Latin American Power has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. with a restructuring deal that would provide financial relief from a debt default due to increased competition and severe drought, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Santiago-based Inversiones Latin America Power filed for chapter 11 Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, with more than $400 million of debt.

Brazil's central bank still sees its current pace of 50-basis-point interest rate cuts per meeting as appropriate and expects it to remain in place for the next few meetings, multiple board members said on Friday, Reuters reported. Remarks from Governor Roberto Campos Neto and economic policy director Diogo Guillen came as the central bank's monetary policy committee prepares to gather for the final time this year on Dec. 12 to 13.

Brazil's annual inflation came in slightly above market expectations in mid-November but remained within striking distance of the top end of the central bank's target range, likely allowing it to deliver further interest rate cuts, Reuters reported. The IPCA-15 consumer price index stood at 4.84% in the year to mid-November, data from statistics agency IBGE showed on Tuesday, up from 4.82% at the end of last month and overshooting forecasts of 4.80% in a Reuters poll of economists.

Argentine President-elect Javier Milei arrived in the U.S. on Monday for a trip to New York and Washington that will include meetings with the International Monetary Fund and Biden administration officials, as well as former President Bill Clinton, as he looks to shore up support for the nation’s crisis-torn economy, Bloomberg News reported. Milei will meet with President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and US Treasury officials, according to press offices from the US and Argentina.

Brazilian retailer Americanas SA reached an agreement with bank creditors to overhaul some of its debt, in a key step toward eventually exiting bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported. Some 11 months after sinking into a crisis due to an accounting fraud that more than doubled its debt to 42.5 billion reais ($8.7 billion), a binding agreement was signed with creditors holding more than 35% of company’s debt, excluding intercompany credits, Americanas said in a filing Monday. Other creditors also showed interest in participating on the same deal in a non-binding way, the company said.

Argentina’s anarcho-capitalist president-elect is right that the country desperately needs dollars. But his economic plan for getting them may be the wrong one, the Wall Street Journal reported. Javier Milei’s victory over Economy Minister Sergio Massa in Sunday’s presidential election showed how eager Argentines are to embrace change. The economy is in tatters, with inflation running at 143%.