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Oil wealth is often considered a curse, but Trinidad & Tobago – behind
the foresight of its leaders – has built the Caribbean’s most dynamic
economy on a large and well-managed oil and gas industry.
Copper company Codelco posted a banner year in 2004, largely on exports to Asia. CFO Francisco Tomic shares his optimism over what’s ahead in 2005.
Last year’s hurricanes spotlighted the Caribbean’s vulnerability. How will this year treat the region?
Ecuador’s congress overwhelmingly rejected 68-3 government draft legislation giving the private sector a greater role in the state-run pension system and government-controlled oil industry, improving the quality and structure of the country’s public finances. President Lucio Gutiérrez fired the entire Supreme Court in December, poisoning relations with the opposition-dominated congress.
It took one transaction for telephone giant Telmex to anchor itself in the US high grade market by piercing Mexico’s sovereign ceiling.
Failure to comply with US corporate governance standards will cost Latin American companies heavily. And Mexico’s TV Azteca is first on the hit list.
Standard & Poor’s cut Belize’s foreign-currency debt rating two levels to CCC, or eight levels below investment grade, citing the country’s increasing debt load and lack of access to financing. S&P has a “negative” outlook on Belize’s rating. Belize faces amortizations this year of $150 million, compared with $139 million in international reserves. The country’s debt-to-gross domestic product ratio climbed to 97 percent last year, from 85 percent in 2003.
Mexico’s lower house of congress voted 360 to 127 to remove Mexico City Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador from office to face charges of disobeying a court order, which could derail his 2006 presidential bid. López Obrador called on his supporters to peacefully resist what he called an unjust, politically motivated attempt to derail his presidential campaign. He specifically accused President Vicente Fox of conspiring to block his candidacy. Yields on Mexico’s ten-year dollar bonds have widened out by 100 basis points since hitting a record low on February 10th.
Mexican consumer prices rose 0.45% in March as higher international oil prices pushed up prices for gasoline, natural gas and jet fuel. The Central Bank also said prices for agricultural goods are rising. However, the core inflation rate, which excludes volatile energy and food prices, fell to 0.31% last month from 0.42% in February.
Enrique García has turned the Andean Development Corp. from an obscure, second-string entity into the best-run development agency in Latin America.
