South America

The Biden administration’s rollback of sanctions against Venezuela is offering a helping hand to bondholders owed $63 billion from the government in Caracas, many of whom haven’t been paid a dime in nearly six years, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Since the Biden administration loosened sanctions on President Nicolás Maduro’s government last week and allowed U.S. investors to once again buy and sell Venezuelan debt, trading in the South American country’s sovereign bonds has intensified and prices are rallying.

Argentina urged a U.S. judge not to enforce a $16.1 billion judgment arising from the government's 2012 seizure of a majority control in state-controlled oil company YPF, while the cash-strapped country appeals the judgment, Reuters reported. In a Thursday night filing with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Argentina said enforcing the "truly overwhelming" judgment or requiring that it post bond would "cripple a nation already suffering from severe inflation and drought." Two investors, Petersen Energia and Eton Park Capital Management, sued, and last month U.S.

Sugar mills in top supplier Brazil are set to boost production next year as companies emerging from bankruptcy begin resuming output while others invest in operations, according to a forecast by BP Bunge Bioenergia SA, Bloomberg News reported. The company, a sugar ethanol joint venture between oil major BP Plc and crop trader Bunge Ltd., expects mills in the Center-South region to produce 41.6 million tons of sugar in 2024, commercial director Ricardo Carvalho said in an interview. That is a 1.7% increase from the current harvest year, which itself is expected to be a record.

Brazil’s annual inflation rate ticked up roughly in line with forecasts as investors expect the central bank will keep its current pace of borrowing-cost cuts at next week’s policy meeting, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Thursday showed consumer prices rose 5.05% in mid-October from a year earlier, just above the 5.04% median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Monthly inflation hit 0.21%. Policymakers are holding firm to their plans and are expected to follow through with a third straight half-point cut at their Nov.

Brazilian retailers are struggling to survive long enough to enjoy the benefit of falling interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. The companies have high debt loads, as do their customers. Competition from online retailers like Amazon.com Inc. is heating up. And refinancing debt is more expensive at home and abroad as yields rise and the market digests an accounting scandal at Americanas SA, a nearly century-old company.

Zimbabwe gave up its unenviable position of having the world’s highest interest rate to Argentina, after slashing borrowing costs to help boost economic growth, Bloomberg News reported. The monetary policy committee cut the benchmark interest rate to 130% from 150%, which lags Argentina’s 133%. The MPC acted because of “emerging global risks and the need to keep exchange rate and inflation expectations anchored to support economic growth,” Governor John Mangudya said in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

Argentina's central bank is planning to hold fire for now on any major policy adjustments after a shock win for the Peronist government in a general election on Sunday, two bank sources said, a sharp contrast to rapid moves after an August primary, Reuters reported. Economy Minister Sergio Massa outperformed in a first round election on Sunday to take pole position ahead of a run-off vote next month where he will face radical libertarian Javier Milei, who wants to dollarize the economy and shut the central bank.

Brazil’s troubled fertilizer maker Unigel Participacoes is proposing a two-year halt to all principal and interest payments on its international bonds as it seeks to avoid a looming default, Bloomberg News reported. The company is in talks with global bondholders before the existing 30-day grace period on a $23.2 million missed interest payment expires at the end of Nov. 1. The company has $530 million in outstanding dollar notes due in 2026.

Colombia’s central bank could put its credibility at risk if it rushed to cut interest rates prematurely, according to its newest board member, Bloomberg News reported. “There’s a big risk in easing early then having to reverse course,” co-director Olga Lucia Acosta said Tuesday, in her first interview since she was appointed by President Gustavo Petro last year. Brazil, Peru and Chile are all easing monetary policy as inflation cools across Latin America.

Brazil's Finance Ministry has not taken a stance on limiting installments for credit card payments, the ministry's executive secretary, Dario Durigan, said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The central bank unveiled on Monday a proposal to card issuers and retailers, suggesting a maximum of 12 interest-free installments for credit card payments and limiting interchange fees paid by merchants to credit card issuers.