Colombia delivered its first interest rate cut in three years, lowering borrowing costs by 25 basis points as signs of a faltering economy overtake inflation concerns, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank reduced its benchmark rate to 13%, Governor Leonardo Villar told reporters in Bogota after Tuesday’s policy meeting. The decision was backed by five of the bank’s seven board members, with two voting to keep the rate at 13.25%. Twelve of 22 economists surveyed by Bloomberg correctly forecast the move, while the rest expected interest rates to remain unchanged.

S&P Global Ratings lifted Brazil’s credit score after the recent approval of an overhaul of the country’s tax code added to a series of economic reforms that have been implemented in the past few years, Bloomberg News reported. S&P raised Brazil’s sovereign rating by one notch to BB, two levels below investment grade, putting it on par with Guatemala and Dominican Republic. The outlook is stable.

Argentina’s central bank changed its benchmark tool for monetary policy Monday, replacing four-week notes with one-day transactions in a bid to lower borrowing costs, Bloomberg News reported. The monetary authority will no longer auction its 28-day Leliq notes, which until now were used to determine its policy rate. Instead, the 1-day repo notes that currently pay an interest rate of 100% will serve as the bank’s new policy benchmark. Monday’s move aims to free up pesos for Argentine banks and strengthen demand for treasury notes.

Argentina’s radical, anarcho-capitalist President Javier Milei may turn out to be pretty conventional. That comes with good and bad news for investors, the Wall Street Journal reported. Late on Tuesday, the country’s new government announced its first set of economic measures since Milei was sworn in. Economy Minister Luis Caputo said the peso’s official exchange rate against the U.S. dollar would be roughly halved and that public spending would be drastically reduced by cutting energy and transportation subsidies, canceling public works and reducing transfers to provinces.

Argentina's economy has many problems, and dealing with a mountain of debt repayments over the next two years could determine whether the new government's economic road map succeeds, Reuters reported. The country's total sovereign debt exceeds $400 billion, some $110 billion of which is owed to the International Monetary Fund and to holders of restructured, privately-held eurobonds. With central bank reserves in the red by more than $10 billion and little chance of tapping the market, the country has some $16 billion in debt payments coming due next year.

Peru's inflation rate could converge to the central bank's target sooner than expected, the head of the bank said on Wednesday, arguing that the rate of rising prices in the Andean nation is now under control, Reuters reported. "We expect it to return to the (target) range, if not in December, in the first quarter or in April next year," central bank head Julio Velarde said, hinting at an earlier-than expected easing of inflation. The central bank had previously said inflation would converge to target in April.

A Sao Paulo judge on Tuesday approved bankruptcy protection for SouthRock Capital, which runs all Starbucks coffee shops and TGI Fridays restaurants in Brazil, according to a court filing, Reuters reported. SouthRock had filed for protection from creditors in late October. SouthRock said in a statement that with the approval, it will continue to restructure operations with the aim of protecting employees and customers, while it intends to keep operating stores as normal.

Brazil’s annual inflation rate fell to within the central bank’s target range, keeping policymakers on track to deliver a fourth straight borrowing cost cut at Wednesday’s meeting, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Tuesday showed consumer prices rose 4.68% in November from a year earlier, just below the 4.7% median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Monthly inflation hit 0.28%. This year, the central bank targets annual inflation at 3.25% with a tolerance range of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.

Argentina's new government will lay out its economic "shock" therapy plans on Tuesday afternoon in a bid to rein in triple-digit inflation and rebuild depleted foreign currency reserves, with markets and ordinary Argentines on tenterhooks about the impact, Reuters reported. Economy Minister Luis Caputo will announce the measures after markets close around 5 p.m. (2000 GMT), the spokesman for libertarian President Javier Milei, who took office on Sunday, told a news conference.

Argentina's consumer prices likely spiked around 12% in November alone, a Reuters poll of analysts showed on Monday, which will be the first monthly inflation data under the government of new libertarian President Javier Milei, Reuters reported. The South American country, which swore in its new government on Sunday, is battling triple-digit annual inflation already at 143% and climbing fast. Milei has said he will fight "tooth and nail" to bring inflation down. The Reuters poll of 22 analysts gave a median estimate of the CPI rising 11.9% in November, up from 8.3% in October.