Banxico has cut Mexico’s benchmark lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 7.50%, taking it to the lowest level in nearly a year and a half. This is the seventh consecutive month the Central Bank has cut the rate, spurred on by record low core inflation figures that are close to 3%. The cut was in line with market expectations and economists anticipate further cuts to take the benchmark rate down to 7% by year-end.
Category: Regions
Posted inDaily Brief
First Female PM For Jamaica
Jamaica is to get its first female prime minister next month when the country’s current leader, 70-year old PJ Patterson, steps down. Patterson is retiring after 14 years in office to be replaced by the newly elected leader of the ruling People’s National Party, Portia Simpson Miller. Miller, 60, minister of local government, community development and sport, beat off rival party candidate and national security minister, Dr Peter Phillips, considered to be the favorite to succeed.
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Mexico To Launch New Dollar Benchmark Bond
Mexico is planning to launch a new dollar-denominated benchmark bond following a debt buyback of other foreign-currency bonds next week. The government has offered to buy back bonds with maturities ranging from 2007 to 2033, with investors allowed until March 2 to submit offers. The new benchmark bond, with a maturity of between 10 and 15 years will then be issued, possibly up to $5 billion worth, offering investors an instrument with greater liquidity.
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Colombia To Auction Enertolima
Colombia is planning to sell off state-owned regional electricity distributor Enertolima on March 15, with a minimum price set at $90 million. The government says it will sell the distributor to the highest bidder, granting a 99.9% stake. The sale had been postponed from February 15 at the request of several bidders. So far, six bidders have pre-qualified for the auction, among them Codensa, a Bogotá-based unit of Spain’s Endesa and Aguas Capital, a water and sewage company controlled by the Cuban government.
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Pluspetrol To Tap Local Market
Petroleum exploration company Pluspetrol Peru Corp, says it is planning to issue local currency bonds worth up to $250 million. The company said it would likely issue a first tranche ahead of the country’s elections on April 9. Pluspetrol Peru Corp is the local subsidiary of Argentine oil company Pluspetrol. It oversees exploration and extraction in the Camisea natural gas field in southern Peru.
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Colombia Credit Outlook Raised
Colombia’s improving economic prospects have prompted ratings agency Standard & Poor’s to raise the country’s long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings outlook to positive from stable. “The country’s better growth prospects are largely a result of significant and sustained improvement in domestic security that has, in turn, led to renewed domestic confidence and double-digit growth in private investment, raising the
ratio of investment to GDP to above 21%,” noted S&P credit analyst Richard Francis.
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Nacional De Chocolates Broadens Menu
Colombia’s largest food-processing company, Inversiones Nacional de Chocolates, part of conglomerate GEA, has bought food company Meals de Colombia for an undisclosed sum. Chocolates had originally considered a partnership but decided in the end to buy Meals as part of its strategy to move into the ice-cream business. Meals specializes in ice-creams, dairy, and juices.
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Jamaica Sells $250 Million Globals
Jamaica sold $250 million global bonds yesterday, Tuesday, at a yield of 8.55%. The 30-year bonds are due February 28 2036 and are rated B by Standard & Poor’s and B1 by Moody’s Investors Service. Jamaica last issued a long-term global bond in October, when it sold $250 million 20-year globals at a yield of 9.375%.
Posted inDaily Brief
Colombia’s Benchmark Rate Unchanged
Colombia’s Central Bank has left the benchmark overnight lending rate unchanged at 6% for the fifth month in a row. Falling inflation has helped to keep interest rates at their three-year low level. Inflation slowed to 4.6% in the 12 months through January, the lowest annual rate in over 40 years, and are expected to drop down to 4.4% by the end of the year.
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Bolivia Investigates Repsol-YPF Subsidiary
Bolivia has opened an investigation into the operations of oil company Andina, subsidiary of Spanish oil firm Repsol-YPF following claims that Andina may have avoided payment of over $200,000 in taxes and royalties of crude oil shipped out of Bolivia in the 12-month period ending June 2005. According to Bolivian customs, Andina effectively smuggled $9.2 billion worth of crude to Chile and Argentina last year. Repsol has denied any wrongdoing.