Category: 2021 Q2

Dear Reader, We’ve been living with the COVID-19 pandemic for more than a year. It has felt almost like science fiction at times. Stay-at-home orders, empty streets (remember that first outing?), face masks, vaccines and all those video calls. The new waves of coronavirus cases have brought yet more curfews, more uncertainty and, regrettably, more […]

Interview with Scott Piper  Head of Latin American Equities, Itaú Asset Management Latin American equities made a comeback in the second quarter this year from a decline in the previous quarter, and the prospects for the rest of 2021 appear to be promising, Scott Piper, head of Latin American equities at Itaú Asset Management, tells LatinFinance. […]

A boom in SPAC IPOs in the US market and an emergence in Latin America could provide just what the region’s tech sector needs for growth: capital. Alec Oxenford is no stranger to technology start-ups in Latin America. Two of his online marketplaces — Letgo and OLX — became unicorns, valued at more than $1 […]

Interview with Eddy LacayoManaging Director, Head of Corporate Lending in Latin America, BBVA Loan activity is picking up in Latin America as more companies seek to return to growth after focusing on refinancing debts and short-term borrowing during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, when loan activity and volumes plunged to record lows. The […]

Copper, oil and soybean prices are up, and this bodes well for natural resource-rich Latin America. That is, if leaders use the windfall to set their economies up for long-term sustainable growth. They may not. Latin America is a major producer of natural resources, so when global demand and prices rise for these raw materials, […]

The lithium sector is poised for rapid growth as surging demand for electric vehicles puts pressure on miners to step up production. Investors are keen to finance projects in Latin America, but a 2018-20 plunge in the price of the metal is a cautionary tale. When Bolivian President Luis Arce called on companies to develop […]

Record copper prices are at the forefront of a global commodities boom. The economies of Chile and Peru, the world’s largest producers of the red metal, will receive a shot-in-the arm at a vital time, but growing resource nationalism could kill off a long-term blossoming of the industry. On April 30, Codelco, Chile’s state-run copper […]

The world economy’s rebound from the lockdown is brightening the growth prospects for Latin America Inc., but companies are being financially prudent. The result: few are borrowing. At least for now. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and the world’s economies began to shut down, Latin American companies did what investors and bankers would have […]