Colombia maintained the pace of monetary policy easing with a second straight quarter-point cut to interest rates as consumer price increases remain above target and inflationary threats abound, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank cut its key rate to 12.75%, Governor Leonardo Villar told reporters in Bogota on Wednesday. Ten of 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg correctly forecast the move, while 15 expected a half-point cut and one a cut to 12.25%. The board voted 5-2 for the 25 basis-point cut, with the minority favoring a larger half-point reduction.

The International Monetary Fund’s executive board approved a $4.7 billion disbursement to the government of Argentine President Javier Milei, Bloomberg News reported. The payments are part of a refinanced $44 billion program, the lender’s largest, that was beset by uncertainty for months during the election campaign that saw Milei oust the Peronist government of Alberto Fernandez. The board’s decision Wednesday follows a staff-level agreement reached in Buenos Aires earlier this month.

Brazil’s government is working on an emergency plan to help alleviate financial pressures on airlines and address the high cost of consumer litigation and a lack of competition, Bloomberg News reported. The government is proposing using public funds as collateral for loans to the carriers from the country’s development bank, known as BNDES, the person said. It is expected to be issued it as a provisional measure in the coming weeks, allowing the changes to then take effect immediately.

The International Monetary Fund revised down its growth estimate for Argentina, forecasting South America’s second-largest economy will shrink for two consecutive years as President Javier Milei pushes for a “significant policy adjustment,” Bloomberg News reported. Argentina’s gross domestic product will contract 2.8% this year as inflation soars, following a 1.1% decline in 2023, according to the IMF’s latest estimates for the global economy published Tuesday. Back in October, the Fund forecast 2.8% growth in 2024.

Brazil expects its public debt to surge by as much as 13.5% in 2024 and aims to progress in its lengthening while projecting a greater presence in the international debt market this year, said the Treasury on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Public debt is expected to range between 7 trillion reais and 7.4 trillion reais in 2024, compared with 6.520 trillion reais ($1.31 trillion) in 2023, according to the Treasury's Annual Financing Plan.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge on Monday allowed Brazilian airline Gol to borrow the first $350 million of its proposed bankruptcy financing, which a company attorney said was "desperately" needed to maintain normal operations, Reuters reported. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn approved the initial funding at a court hearing in Manhattan, despite voicing some concerns about the high cost of the overall $950 million loan. Glenn will consider approving the rest of the loan at a future hearing, and said he needs more insight into the financing costs. "I'm not writing a blank check," Judge Glenn said.

Brazilian airline Gol does not expect its chapter 11 proceedings to trigger job cuts, its chief executive said on Friday, reiterating that the carrier's operations will remain as usual while it is under bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. Gol, Brazil's second-largest airline in terms of passengers transported, filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States on Thursday as it grapples with high debt seen at around 20 billion reais ($4.07 billion).

Brazil's inflation came in well below market expectations in its mid-January reading, statistics agency IBGE said on Friday, providing central bank policymakers with good news as they gather next week for their first interest rate decision of 2024, Reuters reported. Consumer prices in Latin America's largest economy rose 0.31% in the month to mid-January, IBGE said, down from 0.40% in the previous month and below all estimates in a Reuters poll of economists, whose median forecast was for a 0.47% increase.

Brazilian airline Gol said on Thursday it is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, with a $950 million financial commitment from its controlling shareholder Abra Group, Reuters reported. Abra also controls Colombian carrier Avianca, though the two airlines operate separately. The move makes Gol the latest Latin American carrier to seek bankruptcy protection after a pandemic-related crisis, following the path of its sister company Avianca, Mexico's Aeromexico and Chile-based LATAM Airlines.

Banco BTG Pactual SA and Farallon Capital Management are considering injecting fresh money into troubled utility Light SA, Bloomberg News reported. The firms, both of which are Light creditors, are mulling new loans for company, including convertible notes, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing internal deliberations. The loans would be contingent on Light reaching an agreement with regulators to allow it to charge higher rates for the power it sells in Rio de Janeiro.