Colombia’s central bank ignored complaints from President Gustavo Petro and raised interest rates to the highest level in more than two decades, while also deciding against intervention in the currency market, Bloomberg News reported. The bank lifted its benchmark rate by one percentage point to 11%, after the peso plunged and foreign investors dumped the nation’s bonds. The unanimous decision, which was in line with expectations, extends the steepest series of interest rate increases since the bank started inflation targeting at the end of the 1990s.

Brazil's consumer prices returned to positive territory in the month to mid-October after two consecutive drops, government statistics agency IBGE said on Tuesday, ahead of a key central bank policy-setting meeting, Reuters reported. The IPCA-15 consumer price index came in ahead of expectations with a 0.16% increase, but economists do not expect the central bank to resume interest rate hikes at its meeting on Wednesday. In September, the Copom monetary policy committee chose to keep interest rates unchanged at 13.75%, pausing an aggressive monetary tightening cycle even as U.S.

Colombia's central bank board will raise the benchmark interest rate at its meeting next week, which is likely its penultimate increase in a cycle meant to counteract inflation, analysts said in a poll on Friday, Reuters reported. Twelve of 14 analysts surveyed said the seven-member board will increase borrowing costs by 100 basis points to 11%, while one analyst predicted a 75 basis point raise and another projected a 50 basis points uptick. If the majority prediction is met, it would be the highest rate since July 2001.

Argentina’s next government needs to unwind currency controls and let the exchange rate trade freely, according to Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta, one of the main opposition leaders seen as a likely presidential contender next year, Bloomberg News reported. “You have to aim for that,” Larreta said in an interview on the sidelines of the C40 World Mayors Summit in Buenos Aires. “What you have to do and how fast depends on the situation. You’d have to see how much foreign reserves the central bank has when you take over.

Brazil's Nubank on Wednesday announced plans to release its own cryptocurrency as part of a new customer rewards program, Reuters reported. Warren Buffett-backed Nubank said in a statement the Nucoin digital currency is expected to be launched in the first half of 2023. Its goal is to offer customers benefits such as discounts and perks as they accumulate Nucoins.

Economic activity in Brazil fell much more than expected in August, a central bank index showed on Monday, confirming expectations of a slowdown in the second half, Reuters reported. The IBC-Br economic activity index, considered a leading indicator of gross domestic product, fell a seasonally adjusted 1.13% in August from July, more than double the 0.5% drop expected by economists polled by Reuters. In August, activity services growth once again beat expectations. The sector accounts for about 70% of the Brazilian economy and has been vital in the recovery after the pandemic.

LATAM Airlines, the biggest carrier in Latin America, said it plans to conclude its exit from bankruptcy on Nov. 3, Reuters reported. "This process will allow the group to emerge more agile, with a more competitive cost structure, adequate liquidity to face the future, with approximately $10.3 billion in equity, and close to $6.9 billion in debt," the company said in a statement late on Friday. LATAM filed for chapter 11 in 2020 after airline travel was hammered during the pandemic, and it won court approval that June.

A federal appeals court deferred ruling on whether U.S. bondholders have valid claims over Venezuela’s prized oil refiner Citgo Petroleum Corp., instead asking New York state’s highest court to decide on the disputed $1.7 billion debt, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York asked for guidance on whether bondholders are entitled to seize the controlling stake in Citgo they hold as collateral after Venezuela’s opposition movement stopped making payments on bonds secured by the Houston-based refiner.

Argentina's monthly inflation rate came in at 6.2% in September, the government's INDEC statistics agency said on Friday, slower than a month earlier and undershooting analyst forecasts of a 6.7% increase, a rare positive for the embattled economy, Reuters reported. Inflation in the 12 months through September hit 83%, as the South American country fights to rein in surging prices that are sapping people's wages and savings. Prices were up 66.1% in the first nine months of the year.

Argentina's economy minister Sergio Massa said on Thursday that he will meet Paris Club officials on Oct. 27 and 28 in France to wrap up negotiations over $2 billion in debt that the country owes to the creditor group, Reuters reported. Talks will include the repayment schedule and the interest rate for the loan from the creditors which include the governments of the United States, Germany and Italy. The Paris Club last year gave Argentina more time to repay the debt, which allowed Buenos Aires time to negotiate a revamp of its IMF program.