South American trade bloc Mercosur officials met on Tuesday to agree on their counterproposal to a European Union addendum on a long-awaited trade deal before meeting with EU negotiators in August in the hopes of closing the accord by year-end, Brazilian diplomats told Reuters. The four-nation Mercosur will seek to unify its positions on Wednesday and Thursday to respond to the EU on environmental additions the European body made to the trade deal, said Brazil's foreign ministry, where the talks are being held.

Chile's economic activity index dropped for the fifth month in a row in June, central bank data showed on Tuesday, underscoring some weakness in the world's largest copper producer just as the monetary authority starts cutting interest rates, Reuters reported.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expects Brazil’s central bank to begin cutting interest rates on Wednesday, saying he “can only hope” that policymakers launch the easing cycle he has demanded for months, Bloomberg News reported. Analysts widely anticipate that the central bank will begin lowering the benchmark Selic from its six-year high of 13.75% when its monetary policy committee concludes its August rate decision meeting later in the day.

Colombia held interest rates at a 24-year high on Monday to curb inflation that far exceeds that of regional peers, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank kept its benchmark rate at 13.25% for a second straight month, in line with expectations. The decision was unanimous, bank Governor Leonardo Villar told reporters in Bogota. Colombia was the last of Latin America’s major economies to end record monetary tightening, and is now forecast to be among the last to start easing policy. Chile on Friday became the first, with a bigger-than-expected rate cut of one percentage point.

Argentina's Economy Minister Sergio Massa said on Monday the country will not use "a single dollar" of its own reserves to make a $2.7 billion repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due this week, Reuters reported. Massa, who is also a presidential candidate in this October's election, said in a speech that it would be possible because of an extended swap deal with China and a new loan from the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF).

The International Monetary Fund said Friday that it reached an agreement with Argentina that would open the door for the cash-strapped South American country to receive $7.5 billion over the next few months as part of an existing program, the Associated Press reported. The agreement, which was under negotiations for weeks, still needs approval from the IMF Executive Board, which is scheduled to meet in the second half of August, the international financial organization said in a news release.

Brazil’s credit score was upgraded by Fitch Ratings as the emergence of a new fiscal framework stokes expectations for further reform, Bloomberg News reported. Fitch raised the South American nation’s debt rating to BB from BB- on Wednesday, putting it two notches below investment grade and on par with Guatemala and Vietnam. The outlook is stable. “Brazil has achieved progress on important reforms to address economic and fiscal challenges,” analysts including Todd Martinez and Shelly Shetty wrote in a statement.

The International Monetary Fund expects to conclude a review of its $44 billion financing program to Argentina in the coming days, potentially giving the South American nation a lifeline to keep its economy afloat until a new president takes office in December, Reuters reported. The IMF said on Sunday it had reached “understandings” on goals and parameters underlying a staff-level agreement that will eventually be submitted to its board for approval.

Brazil’s petrochemical giant Braskem said Friday it had reached a $356 million settlement with a coastal city where four decades of the company’s rock salt mining destroyed five urban neighborhoods and displaced tens of thousands of people, the Associated Press reported. Around 200,000 people in the Alagoas state’s capital of Maceio were affected by the excessive extraction of rock salt, according to the Brazil Senate’s website. In recent years, several Maceio communities became ghost towns as residents accepted Braskem’s payouts to relocate.