The Argentine government is in talks to issue two dollar-bonds for up to $600 million each with separate guarantees from the World Bank and the CAF as collateral, a source from Argentina's Economy Ministry said on Friday, Reuters reported. The operation, which would take place in the coming weeks, would guarantee 60% of the issuance, and the notes would have a maximum maturity of five years, said the ministry source, who asked not to be identified. The intention is to issue two separate bonds, each with its own backing, for up to $600 million each, the source said.
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Ecuador is in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a credit line of as much as $1 billion after the nation was hit by an earthquake, flooding and a landslide in recent weeks, Bloomberg News reported. The government has its financing needs covered for the year, but is seeking additional support to fund disaster relief after the series of natural calamities, Finance Minister Pablo Arosemena said Wednesday, in an interview in Washington D.C. “We don’t need the money right this second,” Arosemena said.
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Brazil's Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said on Thursday that the central bank has an opportunity to lower interest rates to help boost economic growth as fiscal and monetary policies are converging, Reuters reported. "I want to believe that the central bank has a window of opportunity that I hope will be taken advantage of so that Brazil can think about economic and sustainable growth," Haddad told journalists in China, where he is accompanying President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on a high-profile visit.
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Argentina's inflation rate is expected to have clocked in at an eight-month high of 7.1% in March, according to a Reuters poll of analysts, piling pressure on the government as it looks to tame spiraling prices that have pushed up poverty levels, Reuters reported. The South American country is battling annual inflation above 100%, one of the highest levels globally, which saps earning power and has sharpened a cost-of-living crisis, hurting the ruling Peronist coalition ahead of elections in October.
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Brazil’s annual inflation slowed more expected, reaching the lowest since January 2021 as congress prepares to debate President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s new fiscal framework meant to shore up the nation’s finances, Bloomberg News reported. Official data released Tuesday showed consumer prices rose 4.65% in March compared to the year prior, less than February’s reading of 5.6% and below the 4.71% median estimate from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Monthly inflation slowed to 0.71%.
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Argentina's state oil company YPF has agreed to pay nearly $300 million to the creditors of one of its now-bankrupt subsidiaries after they sued the company in relation to a historical U.S. environmental case, Reuters reported. The case against Maxus Energy Corp., which YPF acquired in the 1990s, dates back to 2005, when the state of New Jersey successfully sued the subsidiary for the contamination of the Passaic River decades earlier. In 2016, Maxus Energy Corp. filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
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The International Monetary Fund’s executive board on Friday approved a $5.4 billion disbursement to Argentina, a key step forward in the government’s program that’s faced setbacks amid a worsening economic outlook, Bloomberg News reported. The board approved the funds after IMF staff finished the fourth review of Argentina’s $44 billion deal, the institution said in a statement. It brings total disbursements under the extended fund facility to $28.9 billion.
Brazilian retailer Americanas SA, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January, faces resistance from key creditors to a reorganization plan that could lead to a haircut of up to 80% on their claims, Reuters reported. The plan, submitted last week to a Rio de Janeiro court, would include a capital injection of 10 billion reais ($1.95 billion) from its top shareholders announced earlier this month. The billionaire trio that founded 3G Capital - which controls consumer goods giants like Kraft Heinz Co and Anheuser Busch Inbev - owns about a third of Americanas.
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Venezuela will push back a legal deadline on $60 billion of defaulted debt in a bid by President Nicolas Maduro to prevent creditors from filing a wave of lawsuits while he attempts to regain recognition from the U.S., Bloomberg News reported. Maduro’s administration announced Thursday it suspended the statute of limitations on bonds issued by the government and state oil company, PDVSA, according to statements published on government websites. The suspension will be in effect for five years or until the US government lifts economic sanctions that prevent a debt restructuring.
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In his first public comments since blowing the whistle on a 20 billion real ($3.8 billion) accounting hole on Jan. 11 that led to the collapse of one of Brazil’s most well-known retailing chains, Sergio Rial told senators that he was kept in the dark before taking over and then immediately realized the firm was insolvent, Bloomberg News reported. During a hearing in Brasilia to discuss the downfall of Americanas SA, Rial, who was chief executive officer from Jan.
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