Peru’s foreign debt has touched record lows as a wave of social unrest amid quickening inflation upends a market once famed for its resilience to near-perpetual political crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Government bonds due in 2031 have tumbled 5.5 cents since early last week to trade at 89 cents on the dollar on Tuesday, lingering near an all-time low. The extra yield investors demand to hold Peru’s bonds over U.S. Treasuries, meantime, is at 194 basis points, versus just 165 a week prior, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. data.
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LATAM Airlines Group SA has accused a Chilean bank representing a group of unsecured bondholders of spreading inaccurate information about the airline's proposed restructuring ahead of a key vote on the plan, Reuters reported. Attorneys for the airline will appear before U.S.
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Chile's President Gabriel Boric announced on Thursday a $3.7 billion economic recovery plan that includes a hike in the minimum wage, subsidies and financing for sectors of the economy still battling fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. Key goals of the plan, the president said, include creating 500,000 jobs and raising the current monthly minimum wage of 350,000 pesos ($434) to 400,000 pesos ($496) by the end of the year.
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Cuba is struggling to cover a fuel deficit as imports from Venezuela and other countries remain below historical levels and global prices boosted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine make purchases almost unaffordable, according to analysts and data, Reuters reported. The Caribbean country, which is dependent on fuel imports mostly from political ally Venezuela to cover more than half of its demand, is since last month dealing with diesel and gasoline shortages leading to long lines in front of stations.
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Argentina’s economy contracted in January as a surge in coronavirus cases due to the omicron variant weighed on industrial manufacturing, Bloomberg News reported. Economic activity in January fell 0.5% from the prior month, better than analysts’ median estimate for a 1.0% contraction. From a year ago, the economy expanded 5.4% in the first month of the year, according to government data published Tuesday.
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Brazilian Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Friday that the federal government plans to create a poverty eradication fund that would be fed from the sale of public assets, Reuters reported. Speaking at a presidential event, he mentioned plans of creating "Fundo Brasil," comprising 1 trillion reais ($210.51 billion) in real state assets and 1 trillion reais in shares of state-owned companies.
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South American carrier LATAM is making progress with the court and can begin the solicitation process to get the approval on its plan of reorganization, Simple Flying reported. LATAM is eyeing to exit its chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the second half of 2022. LATAM Airlines Group is moving forward with its chapter 11 bankruptcy process. Yesterday, the group’s Disclosure Statement was approved in the U.S. In the last few months, the company has filed five revised documents concerning its Plan of Reorganization (first filed on Nov.
Creditors of Brazilian miner Samarco Mineracao SA have suspended their assembly to reconvene on April 1 after the company presented a new restructuring plan on Thursday, Reuters reported. Samarco, a joint venture between Vale SA and BHP Group PLC, changed its restructuring plan to offer a new alternative to pay creditors, hybrid bonds that will distribute part of Samarco's cash flow. The company did not change other conditions in the plan, such as the 75% haircut over the bonds face value.
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Brazil's central bank announced tougher rules for fintechs on Friday, saying that payment institutions will be subject to regulations based on their size and complexity and raising standards for required capital, Reuters reported. The new framework, which will start taking effect in January 2023 with full implementation by January 2025, will extend the proportionality of regulatory requirements currently used for conglomerates of financial institutions to include financial conglomerates led by payment institutions.
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Brazil's government is planning to allow port costs to be excluded from tax calculations to lower the cost of imports, three Economy Ministry sources told Reuters, in a measure backed by the country's industry lobby. At the same time the government is mulling cutting the tax levied on shipping freight, two of the officials said. The moves are prompted by the surge in commodity prices and higher shipping costs caused by the war in Ukraine.
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