Vietnam Cuts Refinance Rate to 12% From 13%, Effective May 28
Latin America Channel: Latest Posts
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Geostrategy
CFR’s Independent Task Force: Global Brazil and U.S.-Brazil Relations
Today the Council on Foreign Relations is releasing its independent Task Force report, “Global Brazil and U.S.-Brazil Relations”. I sat in as an observer for the Task Force, ably led by co-chairs Samuel W. Bodman — former Secretary of Energy under George W. Bush — and James D. Wolfensohn — chairman of Citigroup’s international advisory [...]
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Latin America
What Is the BNDES For?
There is a need for more transparency on the part of the BNDES (Brazilian National Development Bank) and a better assessment of the costs and benefits of subsidized loans. The BNDES’s preposterous involvement in the corporate dispute between French multinationals over the Pão-de-Açúcar supermarket chain shows that the state-owned bank has strayed far from its [...]
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Geostrategy
Evolving Views on Mexico’s War on Drugs
The U.S.-Mexico Interparliamentary Group convened in DC a couple of weeks ago, an annual meeting of senators and deputies from both sides of the border. Mexican political heavyweights, including Manlio Fabio Beltrones and Francisco Rojas of the PRI, José González Morfín and Josefina Vázquez Mota of the PAN, and Carlos Navarrete and Armando Ríos Piter [...]
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Emerging Markets
Why Can’t Brazil Grow as Fast as China?
China’s recurring 10 percent annual average growth rate has won it predominantly accolades (and not a little envy); making it the global economic powerhouse it is today. But as Brazil nears these numbers – growing 7.5 percent in 2010 — it is the naysayers and doubters that have come to the fore. Even the government [...]
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Global Macro
Postcard From Sao Paulo: The Latest Global Fiscal News – and Some of It’s Actually Good
In Sao Paulo, Brazil last Friday we launched our latest assessment of the state of government finances, debts and deficits. While many countries are slogging through a tough fiscal time, there is some good news, including in the United States ̶ the deficit will be lower this year than previously expected. I will also give [...]
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Latin America
Mexico: Finance Minister Cordero Goes Wild
Since our report of June 6th, commenting on the presidential aspirations of Finance Minister Ernesto Cordero, recent developments confirm he does indeed plan to compete aggressively in the race for the PAN’s presidential nomination. In recent days, he has weighed in on a number of political controversies unrelated to his ministry, such as the arrest [...]
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Last Days of Rome
Oil, Nuclear Submarines and the Falklands-Malvinas Dispute
The discovery off the coast of Brazil in 2007 of what may turn out to be the largest oil field in the western hemisphere – the “pre-salt” fields of the Santos basin – changed many assumptions about the way this most placid of “BRICS” would emerge. The most obvious change, driven home by the record-setting [...]
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Emerging Markets
Brazil: It’s the Fiscal, Stupid!
Without curbing the relentless expansion of public spending, it is futile to intervene in currency markets. With the recent improvement in the central government’s fiscal performance (almost half of the fiscal target for 2011 had already been attained in April), a growing number of people, both in and outside the government, have been suggesting that [...]
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Latin America
Mexico: Finance Minister Cordero Likely to Seek Presidential Candidacy – Prospects and Ramifications
On May 26th, Finance Minister Ernesto Cordero acknowledged he has intentions to seek the PAN’s presidential nomination, but stopped short of officially declaring his candidacy. Speculation about his candidacy had been building in recent weeks, with a number of leading members of his party urging him to join the race after he previously dismissed doing [...]
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Global Macro
What I Learnt in Rio: Discussing Ways to Manage Capital Flows
Last week I travelled to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil to participate in a conference on managing capital flows. Organized jointly by the Brazilian authorities and the IMF, the conference brought together experts from both the demand and supply sides of the issue, including many with a wealth of hands-on experience. The discussion was rich [...]
