Colombia’s central bank unexpectedly slowed its monetary easing campaign as fiscal concerns are weakening the nation’s currency and adding to inflation risks, Bloomberg News reported. The seven-member board voted to lower the benchmark rate to 9.5%, Governor Leonardo Villar said after their meeting Friday. The move was forecast by only one of 30 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. All the others predicted a cut to 9.25%. The decision was split, with five board members backing the cut of 25 basis points, one voting for 50 basis points and another for 75 basis points.

Chile’s central bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter point for the third meeting and delivered a stern warning on short-term inflation challenges, raising the odds of a coming pause to its easing cycle, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers led by Rosanna Costa voted unanimously to lower borrowing costs to 5% late Tuesday, as expected by all analysts in a Bloomberg survey except three who forecast no change. Rates have tumbled from 11.25% in mid-2023. In an accompanying statement, policymakers wrote that the inflation outlook has become more daunting.

Argentina is weighing whether to introduce a managed exchange rate regime — a “dirty float” — once it lifts its current foreign exchange controls in 2025, according to policymakers, Bloomberg News reported. The South American nation has been restricting foreign exchange and capital market operations for the past five years, forcing exporters to sell their dollars. The controls are also preventing companies from sending dividends abroad and limiting individuals from buying foreign currency.

Ecuador has completed its second debt-for-nature swap, this time unlocking $460 million to protect and manage the forests and wetlands of its Amazon rainforest, NGO The Nature Conservancy said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. By buying-back over $1.5 billion of its discounted existing bonds with cheaper new money, Ecuador will realise almost half a billion dollars of savings over a 17-year period to invest in conserving the terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems of the Amazon.

Argentina's economy is expected to have contracted 2.6% in the third quarter of 2024 versus a year earlier, the sixth straight such decline, but expanded against the quarter before, breaking a technical recession going back to the end of last year, Reuters reported. A Reuters poll on Thursday, involving 13 local and foreign analysts, gave the year-on-year contraction of gross domestic product (GDP), which follows a 1.7% contraction in the second quarter and a steep 5.1% drop in the first quarter.

Argentina’s monthly inflation slowed to the lowest level since July 2020, handing President Javier Milei another victory on voters’ biggest concern a year after taking office, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 2.4% in November, compared with the 2.8% median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Annual inflation slowed to 166%, according to government data published Wednesday.

Brazil’s central bank lifted its key interest rate by one percentage point and surprised investors by promising two more hikes of the same size, its strongest move yet to recover investor confidence and tame inflation expectations that have been propelled by public spending and a hot economy, Bloomberg News reported. Board members boosted the Selic to 12.25% late on Wednesday as expected by 14 of 35 economists in a Bloomberg survey, with all others expecting a smaller rise.

GOL Linhas Aéreas Inteligentes S.A. and Abra Group Limited have announced a key step in GOL’s financial restructuring journey, AviationSourceNews.com reported. The airline will file an initial proposed chapter 11 reorganization plan with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The filing marks a critical step in addressing its financial challenges and positioning the airline for future growth. This strategic move follows a comprehensive Plan Support Agreement (PSA) signed on November 6, 2024, which involves GOL, Abra Group, their affiliated entities, and the unsecured creditors committee.

Argentina's monthly inflation is likely to have remained under 3% in November, near its lowest level of the year but slightly up from the month before, underscoring the challenge for libertarian president Javier Milei to rein in prices, Reuters reported. A Reuters poll of analysts published on Tuesday showed a median forecast rise of 2.8% in the month after 2.7% in October. Estimates ranged from a 2.4% increase to 3%. Argentina has been battling to bring down what has been the highest inflation rate in the world, peaking at almost 300% a year.

Province of Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof said he would try to block any federal government efforts to sell or shut down the loss-making national carrier, Aerolineas Argentinas SA, Bloomberg News reported. President Javier Milei is looking to push a bill through congress that would clear the way to the airline’s privatization, part of his plans to shrink the size of the state in the debt-ridden nation.