Argentina's monthly inflation rate likely edged down to 12% in March, analysts polled by Reuters estimated, which would mark a third straight month of deceleration for prices and a boost for new libertarian President Javier Milei's economic reform drive, Reuters reported. The South American country has the world's highest inflation with the annualized rate running over 275%, which hurts consumer spending power and dampens the economy. Milei has made curbing prices a focus via an austerity package of cuts.

Uruguay’s central bank resumed its easing cycle with a half-point cut to its benchmark interest rate after inflation rose at the slowest pace since 2005, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank said it lowered the key rate by 50 basis points to 8.50% following a pause in February thanks to a gradual drop in inflation expectations and a sustained slowdown in consumer price increases that’ve stayed within the 3% to 6% target. The move on Wednesday marked the central bank’s biggest since a half-point reduction last October.

The socialist government of Venezuela is discussing compensation with at least two Colombian companies whose assets were seized under late President Hugo Chávez, Bloomberg News reported. Colombia’s largest cement maker, Cementos Argos SA, is in talks involving the possible takeover of a state-owned cement plant near Venezuela’s Caribbean coast, according to German Umaña, Colombia’s minister of commerce, trade and tourism. An expropriated subsidiary of Cali-based sugar exporter Comercializadora Internacional de Azúcares y Mieles, Ciamsa, is also in negotiations for compensation, Umaña said.

Jorge Paulo Lemann, the billionaire Brazilian dealmaker, said that together with his long-time partners, he’s trying to save retailer Americanas SA after a massive $5 billion fraud pushed it into bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg News reported. The trio of investors, that includes Marcel Telles and Carlos Sicupira, have owned Americanas since the early 1980s and their stake stood at about 30% when the scandal broke. Now, in the midst of a debt restructuring and recapitalization, they’ll own about half of the business.

Venezuela's consumer price growth hit in March hit 1.2%, maintaining the same pace as February, the country's central bank said on Thursday, Reuters reported. March's inflation is the lowest since August 2022. The country's 12-month inflation through last month stood at 67.75%, according to Reuters calculations based on central bank figures. Venezuela's government is redoubling efforts to control inflation by holding the exchange rate at 36 bolivars to the dollar, while weighing its spending amid an election year.

LATAM Airlines, opens new tab said on Wednesday its board gave approval to begin the process of re-listing American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on the New York Stock Exchange, Reuters reported. In a filing to Chile's stock exchange, the company said the process involves meeting various requirements from the NYSE and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and could take up to six months. The Santiago-based carrier traded ADRs, which foreign companies use to list their shares on U.S. stock exchanges, on the NYSE before declaring bankruptcy in 2020.

Chilean port workers staged protests on Thursday, disrupting the loading and unloading of ships in one of the biggest exporters of raw materials from copper and lithium to pulp and fruit, Bloomberg News reported. A planned 24-hour strike by members of the UPC and FTPC umbrella unions began around 8 a.m. local time. The Ventanas port confirmed activities undertaken by union members are suspended. Television images showed workers blocking roads near the biggest port of Valparaiso. Local media reported protests by stevedores in the town of Talcahuano.

Chinese lenders are concerned about future investments at a $1.3 billion port in Peru set to be inaugurated this year, executives told a congressional committee, Bloomberg News reported. Peru’s government is trying to revoke a deal that granted Chinese state-owned company Cosco Shipping exclusive rights to run the new Chancay Port. While most major Peruvian ports have a single operator, Peru argues it didn’t have the legal authority to grant the new facility the same treatment.

Chile’s central bank slowed the pace of interest rate cuts and left its options open for the size of future reductions, signaling caution in the face of inflation risks from stronger economic activity and a weaker peso, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers cut their interest rate by three quarters of a percentage point to 6.5% on Tuesday, as expected by nearly all analysts in a Bloomberg survey. In a statement, they wrote borrowing costs will continue to fall, and that the easing cycle will consider the evolution of the economy and effects on inflation.

WOM, once a rising Chilean startup that vowed to challenge the country’s dominant telecom operators, filed for bankruptcy after falling short on a plan to refinance $348 million in debt due in November, Bloomberg News reported. The company filed for chapter 11 protection in Delaware, according to court documents filed today. The filing, which lists between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities and same in assets, allows WOM to keep operating while it works on a plan to repay creditors.