Jorge Illingworth was sworn in as Ecuador’s Foreign Trade Minister, replacing Oswaldo Molestina who took over as Interior Minister last week. Molestina replaced Mauricio Gándara who was forced to step down from his post following growing tension with Congress, which had threatened to block political and constitutional reform.
Category: Regions
Posted inDaily Brief
Kansas City Ends Mexican Tax Battle
US railroad giant Kansas City Southern traded a $1.2 billion tax refund for the Mexican government’s remaining 20% stake in its TFM rail company. The deal gives Kansas City full ownership of the 6,000-mile railroad linking Mexico with markets in the US.
Posted inDaily Brief
Mexico Denies Privatization Moves
Mexican Energy Minister Fernando Elizondo denied the country plans to privatize the oil and gas industry. He said President Vicente Fox’s plan to open the sector up to private investment is not to be seen as a move towards privatization.
Posted inDaily Brief
Investors Continue to Back Peru
Investors are continuing to put their money on Peru as the country’s dollar-denominated bonds outperform other emerging market debt including that of Mexico. Peru’s bonds returned 9.5% to September versus 7.5% on comparable Mexican and other emerging market sovereign bonds. Low inflation, two years of growth and buoyant exports have convinced investors to back Peru. Meanwhile, a recent poll has shown that President Alejandro Toledo has recovered some points in his public approval rating for the first time since the political crisis last month.
Posted inDaily Brief
‘Mexico is Important Partner for China’
President Hu Jintao of China, currently on a three-day visit to Mexico which began on Sunday, has said that Mexico is an important partner for China in Latin America. The partnership is, however, seen by many to be mainly in China’s favour with Mexico running a $13.5 billion trade deficit with its partner last year. Both countries export similar products and compete strongly in the textiles, electrical and electronic sectors, particularly with regard to market share of the US.
Posted inDaily Brief
Ecuador Dismisses Interior Minister
Ecuadorian Interior Minister Mauricio Gándara has been replaced by Oswaldo Molestina, formerly Minister of Foreign Trade, following growing tension between Gándara and Congress which threatened to block political and constitutional reform.
Posted inDaily Brief
Ecuador to Review Oil Contracts
Ecuador is to review all oil contracts in a bid to raise the state’s share of oil revenue to 50% from 20%. Currently companies are able to take 80% of the revenues. Ecuador is the fifth largest crude oil producer in Latin America. Among those companies that would be affected are Occidental of the US and Spain’s Repsol-YPF.
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Mexico Inflation Falls
Mexico’s central bank says inflation last month was 0.12%, slightly below analysts’ forecasts of 0.18%. Inflation on an annualized basis is now running at 3.95%. This is the first time since 2003 that inflation has been within government targets of between 2% and 4%.
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Colombia Buys Back Bonds
Colombia is planning to repurchase $700 million of euro and dollar-denominated bonds this month as the government seeks to protect itself from future swings of the peso against foreign currencies. The dollar bonds will have maturities between 2006 and 2033 and the euro-denominated bonds are set to mature in 2008 and 2011. Colombia’s government is seeking to cut the portion of its foreign debt as a percentage of overall debt to 40 percent this year from 42 percent in February.
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Mexican Stocks Jump
Mexican stocks jumped 1.43 percent to a record high close of 15,246 Wednesday, helped by telecom companies, retailer Walmex and a rally in home builder Sare ahead of a share offer. Investors have snatched up Mexican stocks this week amid expectations that US interest rates may rise slower than expected following the disaster wrought by Hurricane Katrina.