TLA Times | January 02, 2019
SNAPSHOT
Annual percentage GDP growth in Argentina.
Source: data.worldbank.org
Figures from Dec. 21 Source:www.xe.com
FUN IN THE SUN
BRAZIL
Judge who was overruled on appeal holds up Boeing-Embraer deal again.
Judge Victorio Guizio Neto granted a request of Brazilian unions to hold up a deal between Boeing and Brazil’s Embraer, AFP reports via Yahoo News. Neto made a similar ruling two weeks earlier and was overturned on appeal four days later. The $5.26 billion deal would give Boeing an 80 percent stake in Embraer’s commercial business but would allow the Brazilian company to make and sell smaller planes, a market segment where Boeing does not compete. Embraer’s military business is not part of the deal. Embraer was originally a state-owned company, and the government still can veto major decisions by the company. Details
PARAGUAY
Nation’s pitch to foreign investors: We’re more stable than other guys.
Bloomberg Quint reports that the central bank chairman Jose Cantero is emphasizing Paraguay’s stability to investors. Paraguay’s annual inflation rate is a relatively low 4 percent. Meanwhile larger neighbors Brazil and Argentina have struggled at times in recent years. “Our communication strategy probably has to be more prompt in the sense of helping these big multinationals understand that Paraguay is different,” Cantero says. Details
CHILE
Government wants all public transportation to be electric by 2050.
Business Day reports that Chile’s recent debut of electric buses from China is just the first step of a plan to phase out the internal combustion engine. Chile hopes that all public transportation is electric by 2050 – and 40 percent of private vehicles as well. Santiago, the capital of Chile, has a notorious smog problem. The country also has impressive lithium reserves, a vital ingredient for the batteries that are vital to electric vehicles. Details
MEXICO
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador plans to use army for urban development.
Mexico’s new president revealed plans for the military to develop an urban project in Mexico City, cutting out private developers, Reuters reports. “It’s not going to be a private real estate company, it’s not a private business,’’ President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told a news conference. “It’s the government itself, in this case the secretary of defense, that’s going to carry out the urbanization.” The leftist president has been critical of past government practices that he said benefitted elites. Details