Colombian lawmakers have lifted some restrictions on government spending in a controversial decentralization bill that’s already stoked concern among investors, Bloomberg News reported. The constitutional committee of Colombia’s lower house removed a requirement that the bill, which aims to transfer as much as 39.5% of central government revenue to regional authorities by 2039, must align with the government’s mid-term fiscal framework.

Argentina's state-run oil company YPF will seek $2 billion in financing in the second quarter of 2025 to complete its Vaca Muerta Sur project, Reuters reported. The project is being carried out by Vaca Muerta Oil Sur (VMOS), which is controlled by YPF, and aims to transport an additional 390,000 barrels per day from the Vaca Muerta formation to a coastal export terminal in Rio Negro province. The company is seeking $1.5 billion from foreign investors and $500 million locally and hoping to add Pampa Energy, Vista, Shell, Chevron and Pan American Energy as partners.

Argentina’s credit rating was raised two notches by Fitch Ratings, which said it expects the government will make upcoming payments on hard-currency bonds, Bloomberg News reported. Fitch lifted the South American nation’s long-term rating to CCC from CC, eight notches below investment grade and on par with Bolivia. Fitch doesn’t assign an outlook for that rating.

China has made a $1.3 billion bet that a new port in Peru will boost access to South America’s agricultural bounty. Cashing in on the investment may be harder than expected, Bloomberg News reported. China’s President Xi Jinping and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte officially inaugurated Chancay port during a ceremony at Peru’s presidential palace in Lima on Thursday. The move epitomizes Beijing’s ambitions to strengthen commerce with South America as the world braces for more restrictive trade measures under US President-elect Donald Trump.

The Brazilian agricultural sector experienced a significant uptick in companies seeking judicial recovery during the third quarter of 2024. This trend reflects broader economic challenges affecting various industries across the country, the Rio Times reported. According to the RGF Judicial Recovery Monitor, 264 agricultural companies were undergoing judicial recovery by the end of the third quarter, a 20.5% increase from the previous period. The surge stems from falling commodity prices, rising production costs, and high debt levels among rural producers.

Brazil’s central bank warned that additional deterioration of inflation expectations could lead to a more protracted tightening cycle, days after policymakers doubled the pace of their interest rate hikes, Bloomberg News reported. “A further deterioration in expectations could lead to a more prolonged monetary policy tightening cycle,” central bankers wrote in minutes to their Nov. 5-6 meeting, when they raised the benchmark Selic by 50 basis points to 11.25%.

Retail sales in Brazil rose less than expected in September but recovered from a fall in the previous month, as the strength of Latin America's largest economy keeps in focus amidst the central bank's fight against inflation, Reuters reported. Retail sales volumes rose 0.5% in September from August, statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday, below the 1.10% increase forecast by economists in a Reuters poll, but above August's 0.2% decrease. Sales grew 2.1% from the year-earlier period.

Argentine President Javier Milei's dramatic austerity agenda has helped lower inflation, but the slowdown has come at the cost of consumption in a battered economy where more than half of the country has fallen into poverty, Reuters reported. The libertarian president, nearing a year in office, has celebrated falling inflation as one of his government's key accomplishments, after one of the largest adjustments in public spending in recent history.

A Brazilian government-backed credit line for struggling airlines should be ready by early 2025, helping the industry ride out a bumpy stretch for big carriers, Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho told Reuters. Gol Linhas Aereas, which is negotiating its exit from bankruptcy protection, and Azul , which recently renegotiated debts to raise fresh capital, are both in talks with the government about the credit, Costa Filho said.

A boom in Brazil’s agriculture sector sparked a rush of investments, with the $7 billion market for agribusiness funds luring people from all walks of life in the past three years, Bloomberg News reported. But with bumper crops across the globe sending prices plunging and Brazilian farmers filing for bankruptcy at alarming rates, the retail investor is paying the price. It’s a sobering reminder of market risks to investors who have been bombarded with messages on national television promoting agriculture as hip and cool, and even music that celebrates the success of the sector.