Brazil, Ecuador Empower Female Entrepreneurship

Bloomberg Línea — A study by Mastercard reveals that the percentage of women who became entrepreneurs in Latin America increased over the last year, and that Brazil is the country that most favored women entrepreneurs in the region.

Ecuador’s largest bank, Banco Pichincha, has issued a $100 million gender social bond to finance the growth of the portfolio of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises led by women, the first issue of its kind to be made in the domestic securities market.

On the stock markets, Chile’s stock market recovered from the setback it showed in the last two sessions and registered the best performance in Latin America. Its main index, the IPSA (IPSA), gained 2.34%.

The energy, commodities and IT sectors showed the best performance during the day, with gains of over 3%, with the shares of Itaú Corpbanca (ITAUCORP), Empresas CMPC (CMPC) and copper miner Copec (COPEC) posting the sharpest hikes.

Following is a roundup of Thursday’s news from Bloomberg Línea and Bloomberg reporters across Latin America.

Argentina:

• Payments with cryptocurrencies are seen as becoming an e-commerce trend in Argentina in 2022, following a 68% increase in revenues from such payments.

Brazil:

• A study by Mastercard reveals that the percentage of women who decided to become entrepreneurs in Latin America increased over the last year, and that Brazil is the country that most favored women entrepreneurs in the region.
• The president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, said that an additional increase in the official interest rate (known as Selic) in June is not likely, indicating that the current cycle of high interest rates may end as early as May. The central bank has adopted a more optimistic tone than investors about economic growth this year, as one of the world’s most aggressive monetary tightening cycles slowly comes to an end.

Colombia:

• Colombia’s Finance Minister said Thursday that a new bill will be presented that seeks to address some of the most urgent issues regarding access to financing, and that the government will focus its efforts on the approval of this new bill rather than the capital markets reform that the government presented in 2021.
• Colombia’s business confidence continues to fall and reached 37.4% in February.

Costa Rica:

• The Global Environment Facility (GEF) will provide the country with a loan to be used in urban decarbonization, mobility and circular economy businesses in Costa Rica.
• The country’s coffee growers are facing a “mega-emergency” with an increase in the cost of fertilizers.

Dominican Republic:

• Accumulated inflation for January to February 2022 stood at 2.11%, while inter-annual inflation, measured from February 2021 to February 2022, stood at 8.98%.

Ecuador:

• Banco Pichincha, the country’s largest bank, issued a $100 million gender social bond to finance the growth of the portfolio of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises led by women in Ecuador. This is the first issue of its kind to be made in the domestic securities market.
• IDB Invest provided $25 million in financing to El Rosado, one of Ecuador’s largest business groups, to finance the company’s capital investment plan.

El Salvador:

• The issuance of a Bitcoin Bond in El Salvador was scheduled to hit the markets between March 15 and 20, but the international and local scenario has delayed it. Bloomberg Línea presents the three reasons that have delayed the issuance.

Guatemala:

• Guatemala has created LagoBitcoin, or ‘Bitcoin Lake’, that seeks to replicate the experience of El Zonte beach in El Salvador, a tourist destination that became a pioneer in accepting the cryptocurrency long before President Nayib Bukele created his Bitcoin Law.

Mexico:

• Mexico’s central bank has raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 6.50%.

Peru:

• The U.S. dollar appreciated against the Peruvian sol in the second week of March, after the sol had positioned itself as one of the best performing currencies globally. Experts explain the reasons and outlook for the local currency.

Venezuela:

• The close relationship between Venezuela and Russia has given Venezuela a greater relevance on the global geopolitical map and which, even after the invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent sanctions imposed on Russia by Western countries, has also led to a new rapprochement on behalf of the United States.