Brazil’s central bank lifted its interest rate by a full percentage point for the second meeting and said the board will do the same at the next decision while leaving their policy options against inflation open thereafter, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers raised the benchmark Selic to 13.25% in an unanimous vote late Wednesday, as expected by all economists surveyed by Bloomberg and a vast majority of traders in the options market. The monetary authority has increased borrowing costs by 2.75 percentage points since September.

Chile’s central bank paused its cycle of interest rate cuts and left all options on the table for future borrowing cost adjustments, citing heightened uncertainty as well as domestic and global inflation risks, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers led by Rosanna Costa voted unanimously to keep borrowing costs at 5% late on Tuesday, as expected by all analysts in a Bloomberg survey. In an accompanying statement, board members wrote that a weaker peso, higher labor costs and an increase in electricity tariffs are driving inflation dynamics.

Brazil reached a record high for bankruptcy protection filings in 2024, with 2,273 companies seeking judicial relief, according to data from Serasa Experian. This figure marks a 61.8% increase from 2023 and is 22% higher than the previous peak in 2016, which saw 1,863 filings, Valor International reported. Experts predict this trend will worsen, with both 2025 and 2026 expected to surpass last year’s numbers due to a more challenging economic outlook.

A planned merger between Brazilian airlines Gol and Azul would strengthen the sector and prevent either company from failing, Brazil's ports and airports minister told Reuters, giving the potential move a key government nod, Reuters reported. Azul and Abra, the majority investor of Gol and Colombia's Avianca, announced earlier this month they had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the intent of combining their businesses in Brazil.

Brazil’s annual inflation slowed less than expected in early January despite a drop in energy costs, highlighting the challenges facing policymakers as they prepare to raise the interest rate again next week, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Friday showed consumer prices rose 4.5% from a year earlier. On the month, they increased 0.11%. The central bank has pledged to deliver its second straight interest rate hike of 100 basis points next week — which would lift the benchmark Selic to 13.25% — as policymakers maneuver to control inflation.

A plan to merge two of Brazil's top airlines to create a dominant carrier will likely win regulatory approval as a government push for a financially healthy sector outweighs concern about restricted competition, experts and lawyers told Reuters. A floated combination of Gol and Azul formalized with a memorandum of understanding last week, would give the new firm overwhelming control over the country's domestic market. But both have faced financial turbulence since the pandemic, along with Brazil's current No. 1 carrier, LATAM Airlines' local unit.

After announcing an acquisition deal with investors from the US and UK to resolve its bankruptcy process, WOM Colombia is now planning to begin deploying 5G networks, BNAmericas.com reported. “We will be deploying [5G] infrastructure in the second half of the year,” said WOM Colombia CEO Ramiro Lafarga. WOM acquired spectrum in the 3.5GHz band in December 2023 but has not yet initiated the network deployment. The company paid approximately US$74mn and committed to connecting 3,180 schools and establishing 24 base stations with 4G coverage along primary and secondary roads.

Global airlines are in talks with Gol to invest in the Brazilian airline, which is undergoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S., local newspaper Valor Economico reported yesterday, according to Reuters. The report mentions U.S.-based companies United Airlines and American Airlines, as well as European firms Air France-KLM, International Airlines Group and Lufthansa Group among the groups in talks with Gol.

AgroGalaxy Participacoes SA, a Brazilian agricultural supplies retailer that sought creditor protection last year, plunged the most in more than a month as its third-quarter loss widened because of expenses related to the bankruptcy process, Bloomberg News reported. The loss was 1.6 billion Brazilian reais ($265 million), roughly 18 times its loss a year earlier, the company said Monday. AgroGalaxy had postponed the earnings release twice.

Azul and Gol, two of Brazil's largest airlines, are moving a step closer to a sweeping merger that would create a dominant carrier in Latin America's No. 1 economy, a securities filing showed on Wednesday. The union of the two companies, which follows months of talks and market speculation, would hold roughly 60% of the domestic market, far surpassing the local unit of Chile-based LATAM Airlines.