Brazil’s central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at a six-year high and stopped short of endorsing imminent reductions, frustrating a growing campaign for looser monetary policy from President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, business leaders and top politicians, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers kept the benchmark Selic at 13.75% for a seventh straight meeting as widely anticipated late on Wednesday.

Argentina will make scheduled payments totaling some $1.9 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday, an economy ministry source said, Reuters reported. The South American country is in talks with the IMF to revamp its $44 billion loan program with the lender as it battles with dwindling foreign currency reserves, a weak peso currency and annual inflation over 100%. Argentina has $2.7 billion due to the fund this month alone.

Chile's central bank on Tuesday lowered the high-end of its forecast for economic growth in 2023 amid still tight financial conditions, but increased the outlook for 2024 as it hints at potential interest rate cuts in the short-term, Reuters reported. The revisions came a day after the monetary authority decided to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 11.25%, but said it could begin cutting it soon if recent positive trends continue.

Argentina and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have a $44 billion dilemma, with the two sides set to meet for crunch talks to revamp the country's huge, wobbling debt deal, key to avoiding default on billions in looming debt payments, Reuters reported. The South American country, a serial defaulter that has struggled for years with inflation and currency crises, struck a $57 billion loan deal with the IMF in 2018, which failed and was replaced last year with a new $44 billion program.

Colombian mortgage and commercial lending are unexpectedly resilient after the central bank’s steepest-ever series of interest rate rises, according to the head of the nation’s biggest bank, Bloomberg News reported. Bancolombia SA expects its lending to grow by 6% to 8% in nominal terms, from about 23% last year, Chief Executive Officer Juan Carlos Mora said. Some home buyers are taking into account the possibility of refinancing at lower rates in the future, he added.

Argentina's annual inflation rate topped 114% in May, but in a silver lining for the embattled South American country the monthly rise came in well below analyst forecasts and posted a surprise slowdown versus a peak the month before, Reuters reported. The monthly rise in the consumer price index (CPI) clocked in at 7.8%, the country's statistics agency said on Wednesday, well below analyst estimates of an 8.9% increase and under the 8.4% posted in April, the largest monthly rise in decades.

The previous management team at Brazilian retailer Americanas SA carried out fraudulent accounting practices and hid them from investors and the board of directors, according to a filing on Tuesday and comments from the current chief executive officer, Bloomberg News reported. The former executive team, led by then Chief Executive Officer Miguel Gutierrez, created false advertising contracts as a way to reduce costs on the balance sheet that ballooned to 21.7 billion reais ($4.5 billion) as of Sept.

Retail sales in Brazil rose for the second consecutive month in April driven by Easter sales, data from government statistics agency IBGE showed on Wednesday, but that was still not enough for them to meet market expectations, Reuters reported. Sales increased 0.1% in the month compared with March, IBGE said in a report, boosted by supermarket shopping but slightly below consensus of 0.3% from economists polled by Reuters, as growth lost steam from the previous month.

Brazilian airline Azul on Tuesday launched exchange offers aimed at pushing forward bonds originally set to mature in 2024 and 2026, the latest move in a broader restructuring plan it expects to remove an overhang on its stock, Reuters reported. The exchange offers total $1 billion and follow a deal with aircraft lessors to give them equity and tradeable debt in exchange for lower payments, a deal seen reducing lease payments by a total 5.4 billion reais ($1.11 billion) in the long term.

The main shareholders at embattled Brazilian retailer Americanas SA tentatively have agreed to retain their stake for about three years as part of a restructuring plan, Bloomberg News reported. The precise lock-up period for the billionaires Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Telles and Carlos Sicupira is still under discussion and creditors are requiring it to last into 2027 as a guarantee shareholders will keep helping to rescue the company, the people said, asking not to be named because the negotiations are not public. Lemann, Telles and Sicupira declined to comment.