Brazil's antitrust watchdog on Wednesday approved the sale of state-run oil firm Petrobras' 51% stake in gas company Gaspetro with no restrictions, Reuters reported. Petrobras is selling the stake to Compass, which is controlled by energy company Cosan, for 2.03 billion reais ($394.15 million), according to a statement from Compass when the deal was announced last July. Japan's Mitsui & Co. owns the remaining 49% stake in Gaspetro, a holding company which controls 18 distributors of piped natural gas. The watchdog's Wednesday decision came on a 4-3 vote.

Brazil’s central bank said an extension of its aggressive tightening cycle with another interest rate hike in August is needed to assure that high inflation forecasts will fall back around their target, Bloomberg News reported. Policy makers discussed signaling a steady interest rate for a “sufficiently long” period but concluded another hike would still be needed, according to the minutes of their June 14-15 meeting, when the board raised borrowing costs to 13.25%.

Miners Vale SA and BHP Group said in a joint statement on Monday they are not interested in selling their joint venture Samarco, after reports of the interest of Brazilian steelmaker Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), Reuters reported. "BHP Brasil and Vale say Samarco is not for sale and reaffirm its support for the restructuring plan filed by the employees' unions," the companies said in a joint statement. The statement added the companies are "focused on the mediation hearing in the bankruptcy process" scheduled for Tuesday.

Peru's central bank on Friday said it had reduced its growth projection for 2022 to 3.1% from 3.4% previously amid global economic volatility and a recent disruption to mining activity in the Andean nation, Reuters reported. The bank maintained its estimate for 3.2% GDP growth in 2023, bank president Julio Velarde said in a presentation accompanying its latest macroeconomic projections report. It saw a lower fiscal deficit for 2022 of 1.9% of GDP compared to a previous 2.5% projected in March, principally due to higher fiscal revenues, Velarde said.

Argentina's monthly inflation clocked in at 5.1% in May, still painfully high but below expectations and slower than the two previous months as the South American grains producer battles to bring down consumer prices, Reuters reported. That was below the median forecast of 5.2% that local and foreign analysts polled by Reuters gave. The rate was 6% in April and a year-high 6.7% in March. The annual inflation rate, however, is expected to top 70% by the end of the year.

LATAM Airlines Group SA, the largest air transport group in Latin America, yesterday asked a bankruptcy judge to approve $2.75 billion in new loans to fund the company's exit from chapter 11, Reuters reported. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Garrity in Manhattan will review the request during a court hearing on June 23.

Brazil posted a higher-than-expected $4.9 billion trade surplus in May, official data showed on Monday, boosting exports to the European Union amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported. The result represented a sharp decline from the $8.5 billion surplus posted in May 2021, on the back of a surge in imports while exports grew at a slower pace. Exports were up 8% from the same month last year to $29.6 billion, a record for any month, the Economy Ministry said.

Argentina's benchmark interest rate is likely to be hiked another 200 basis points next week, analysts polled by Reuters estimated, as the central bank seeks to counter soaring and painful inflation that could top 70% this year, Reuters reported. The survey of seven analysts and traders indicated the bank would likely hike the rate to 51% from its current level of 49%, according to a median of the responses. The estimates ranged from no change to a steepest hike of 350 basis points.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Wednesday it had reached a staff-level agreement on an updated macroeconomic framework with Argentine authorities, allowing the country access to about $4.03 billion, Reuters reported.

Chile’s government is confident it will be able to undertake massive structural reforms without scaring away foreign investors, according to one of the nation’s top economic officials, Bloomberg News reported. “Our main message is that change is not the same as uncertainty,” Economy Minister Nicolas Grau, 39, said in an interview Monday in Ottawa. He spoke in Canada as part of an official visit by Chile’s left-wing President Gabriel Boric, who met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and investors before he travels to the Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles.