Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean by Donald Terry, Manager, and Pedro de Vasconcelos, Coordinator, Remittance Program Multilateral Investment Fund Call it the case of the missing billions. For […]
Category: Regions
Posted inMagazine
Man With The Plan
AMLO’s economic advisor explains how his left-leaning presidential candidate plans to shake things up in Mexico without spooking the financial world.
Posted inMagazine
Japan’s Latin American Ex-Pats and their Impact on Remittances
Japan’s Latin American Ex-Pats and their Impact on Remittances by Jan Smith, Director Financial Services Practice, and Renée-Maude Lebrun, Consultant, InfoAmericas Until recently, most of the attention on remittances was […]
Posted inDaily Brief
Remittances to Latin America Rise to $53.6 Bln in 2005
Remittances from immigrant workers in the U.S., Europe and Japan to Latin American countries rose 17 percent last year to $53.6 billion, according to the Inter-American Development Bank. The cash is the largest source of foreign funding for many countries, overwhelming the amount received in foreign aid. Mexico was the largest recipient at $20 billion followed by Brazil with $6.4 billion.
Posted inDaily Brief
General Motors to Build New Plant in Mexico
General Motors is set to build a new plant in Mexico to produce compact and sub-compact cars at a cost of at least $600 million, part of which will be subsidized by the Mexican government. The plant in the central state of San Luis Potosi will employ 1,800 people and assemble 30 cars an hour. GM is laying off workers in the United States because high labor costs make plants there uncompetitive.
Posted inDaily Brief
Colombia Telecom Sale Set for April
The Colombian government will set the sale date for the 50 percent plus one share of the state-owned telecom company, Colombia Telecom, for April 7. Citicorp is advising the government on the sale and it expects to receive approximately $350 million from the privatization. Spain’s Telefonica, Mexico’s Telmex and Venezuela’s CANTV are all expected to bid. The government is holding on to almost half the company to ensure the privatization does not lead to the creation of a private quasi monopoly as it did in many Latin American countries, most notably Mexico.
Posted inDaily Brief
Cemex Plans Dubai Plant
Mexican cement producer, Cemex, has announced it is to invest $50 million in building a new grinding facility in Dubai, UAE, to meet growing local demand for its product. Construction is due to be completed in 2007, taking production capacity in the region to 1.6 million metric tonnes. The money to be invested is part of $500 million allocated by the company this year towards its worldwide capital expansion program. Cemex began operations in UAE last March when it acquired British RMC Group. Its operations there focus on ready-mix concrete production and ground slag supply to the booming local construction industry.
Posted inDaily Brief
Bantismo Says HSBC Not Buying
Central America’s largest banking group, Panama-based Grupo Banistmo, has denied rumors that it is to be bought by UK bank HSBC. Banistmo was commenting on local newspaper reports that a sale was imminent. In February, Banistmo bought a 53.7% stake in El Salvador’s Inversiones Financieras Bancosal. And it is planning to enter the Guatemalan market by 2007. HSBC meanwhile has been on something of a spending spree in Latin America. Earlier this year, it agreed to buy the Argentine unit of Italy’s BNL for $155 million and the Paraguayan assets of Lloyds TSB for $15 million. It has also made an application to set up operations in Peru.
Posted inDaily Brief
Bimbo Expands Into China
Mexican food firm Grupo Bimbo is to buy a 98% stake in Beijing Panrico Food Processing Center, the Chinese subsidiary of Spanish baker Panrico, for $11.1 million. The acquisition, which should be completed in the next three months, will give Bimbo access to the markets in Beijing and Tianjin and be a first step into China’s huge consumer market. Bimbo is also planning to acquire plants in Colombia, Chile, Uruguay and Guatemala this year, investing around $300 million.
Posted inDaily Brief
Mexican Economy Riding High
Figures released by the government show that Mexico’s economy expanded by 5.7% year-on-year in January, the highest growth rate since November 2000. Growth was driven fairly evenly by the agriculture, industry and services sectors, which rose 8.5%, 6.0% and 5.6% respectively.