A decade after the Tequila Crisis, Mexico’s banks are lending again and the capital markets are blossoming. Future development will depend on next year’s elections.
Category: Regions
Posted inMagazine
Shipping Out
Trans-Pacific trade has overwhelmed US ports. Shippers looking for alternative routes to the US market are beginning to look at Mexico.
Posted inMagazine
Slaughtering the Sacred Cow
Mexico’s national oil company loses money hand over fist and is leveraged to the hilt. It needs major reform urgently.
Posted inMagazine
Taking on the Barons
Mexican companies talk a good game, but in most sectors only two or three companies still dominate their business. But Mexico is revitalizing its anti-trust efforts.
Posted inMagazine
On the Edge of the Abyss
The past two years have seen two presidents run out of office in Bolivia. Will next year bring the overthrow of another?
Posted inDaily Brief
Katrina’s Damage Sinks In
The price of crude oil rose $2.70 to $69.90 Tuesday, a new record, after Hurricane Katrina shut down 95 percent of production in the Gulf of Mexico. Katrina crossed the US coast yesterday after closing the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the largest oil import terminal in the country. The US government is considering tapping its strategic oil reserve in an attempt to lower crude prices and ease the crisis. The government loaned 5.4 million barrels of oil last year to refiners whose supplies were disrupted by Hurricane Ivan.
Posted inDaily Brief
Katrina’s Damage Sinks In
The price of crude oil rose $2.70 to $69.90 Tuesday, a new record, after Hurricane Katrina shut down 95 percent of production in the Gulf of Mexico. Katrina crossed the US coast yesterday after closing the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the largest oil import terminal in the country. The US government is considering tapping its strategic oil reserve in an attempt to lower crude prices and ease the crisis. The government loaned 5.4 million barrels of oil last year to refiners whose supplies were disrupted by Hurricane Ivan.
Posted inDaily Brief
Banco de Mexico Cuts Rates
Mexico’s central bank cut its benchmark lending rate 25 basis points to 9.5 percent after inflation fell. The reduction is a first step in reversing 12 interest-rate increases through March that slowed economic growth in Latin America’s largest economy. Mexico´s annual inflation rate through mid-August was 4.1 percent. The core inflation rate, which excludes costs of energy and fresh foods, fell to 3.35 percent.
Posted inDaily Brief
Mexico: Bank Profits Soar
The combined net profit of banks operating in Mexico soared by 89 percent year-on-year to $2.24 billion in the second quarter. The total assets of the Mexican financial sector were up 3 percent to $196 billion, equal to 28 percent of the country´s GDP. The banking sector’s default rate stood at 2.3 percent.
Posted inDaily Brief
Deal Struck in Ecuador
Protesters who had shut down Ecuador´s oil exports struck a deal with energy companies under which they will end their attacks in exchange for the firms’ boosting investment in the poor communities where they operate. Oil companies such as Occidental Petroleum, Petrobras and EnCana are to pave 160 miles of new roads in the Amazon provinces of Sucumbios and Orellana. About two-thirds of the 25 percent income tax paid by the companies is to be steered toward local health, environment and development projects.