Chile Mulls Mining Tax; Ecuador to Ramp Up Oil Output

A roundup of Tuesday’s news from across Latin America

Bloomberg Línea
March 29, 2022 | 10:55 PM

Bloomberg Línea — Antofagasta, the Chilean copper producer most exposed to regulatory risk in the country, hopes that the industry will not be affected by some of the more radical measures being debated by the citizens charged with drafting a new Constitution. The newly installed government of President Gabriel Boric wants to move forward on increasing taxes on mining, which could take the form of a broad tax reform, Mining Minister Marcela Hernando said at the World Copper Conference.

Ecuador’s plan to increase oil production by at least 100,000 barrels per day this year to a total 495,000 barrels per day remains in place, and the government has several strategies in its sights, one of which is to reopen 1,000 oil wells, beginning with at least 200 in a first phase.

On the region’s stock markets, Brazil’s Ibovespa (IBOV) had the best performance, buoyed by the optimism generated by the Russia-Ukraine talks, closing up 1.07%, following the rise of Petrobras (PETR3; PETR4) shares, after the government has announced on Monday the departure of the company’s chairman, Joaquim Silva e Luna and appointed Adriano Pires, founding partner and director of the Brazilian Infrastructure Center.

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

Argentina:

Brazil:

Chile:

Colombia:

Costa Rica:

Dominican Republic:

Ecuador:

El Salvador:

Guatemala:

Mexico:

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Panama:

  • Faced with the constant rise in fuel prices, Panamanian transportation companies are not backing down and insist that the government freeze the prices of diesel and gasoline at $2.40 and $3.00, respectively, threatening to paralyze public transportation if their demands are not met.

Peru:

Uruguay:

  • Analysts and financial players in the Uruguayan market confirmed their upward revision of inflation expectations both for the end of the year and in the forecast for 24 months from now, according to the latest survey released on Tuesday by the Central Bank of Uruguay (BCU). The average forecast for inflation by the end of this year is 7.9%.