Ecuador’s President Woos Israeli Investors; Venezuelan Inflation Cools

Bloomberg Línea — Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso began a five-day visit to Israel on Monday, which he described as “historic”, as the first by a leader of the South American country, and during which he will discuss security, innovation and entrepreneurship, and investment possibilities.

Despite a rebound in April by the country’s consumer price index, inflation in Venezuela has recorded three consecutive months below 5%, according to data from the country’s central bank.

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On the region’s stock markets, Argentina’s Merval (MERVAL) saw the worst performance and recorded its biggest day-on-day fall since November. Commodities-related companies did not have a good day, in the midst of the decline of the main commodities. Argentine stocks listed on Wall Street showed the same performance, with MercadoLibre (MELI) shares down more than 16%.

Mexico’s stock exchange (MEXBOL) dropped 0.98% and Brazil’s (IBOV) was 1.79% down at closing.

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

Argentina:

• Food prices continue to rise, despite the measures taken by the government, and were once again above the general inflation level in April.
• A spat between the government and Vice President and former president Cristina Kirchner continues, with the latter having criticized the government’s economic policy in recent days. Economy Minister Martín Guzmán responded to the VP’s criticisms by in turn criticizing her term of office and its “problems of macroeconomic consistency”, while boasting the current government’s ability to remove energy subsidies.

Brazil:

• Brazilian private healthcare provider Healthtec Alice has announced a partnership with Rede Americas, owner of Samaritano hospitals in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The healthcare company has sought to expand its service areas by increasing its client base. Healthtec has partnerships with 12 hospitals and more than 200 laboratories in the city of São Paulo and is now expanding into two new areas of the capital.

Chile:

• Chile’s flirtation with a more ‘dovish’ monetary policy came to an abrupt end last week when the Central Bank raised interest rates more than expected and inflation spiked. The bond market will feel the impact for weeks, analysts say. The rate on two-year interest rate swaps rose as much as 49 basis points on Friday after inflation reached its highest level in more than a quarter of a century. That of the 2026 peso bond did so by 15 basis points.

Colombia:

• The consumer confidence index was -17.5% in April, according to Fedesarrollo’s most recent survey, and which represented a slight improvement compared to March when the index was -17.8%. According to the think tank, the improvement was mainly due to a 0.8-percentage point increase in the consumer expectations index.

Dominican Republic:

• The World Bank and the Ministry of Economy presented the strategy for supporting the Caribbean country’s development priorities for the next five years, and which contemplates financing of up to $1.8 billion for development projects.

Ecuador:

• Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso began a five-day visit to Israel on Monday, which he described as “historic”, as the first by a leader of the South American country, and during which he will discuss security, innovation and entrepreneurship, and investment possibilities.

El Salvador:

• Moody’s has downgraded El Salvador’s development bank’s (Banco de Desarrollo de El Salvador) foreign currency issuer risk rating to Caa3, from Caa1. The downgrade follows the government of El Salvador’s overeign bond downgrade, to one notch above “expected” or “imminent” default.

Guatemala:

• According to the latest Consumer Price Index report, inflation in April stood at 4.62%.

Honduras:

• After decades of being part of the breakfast of millions of Honduran families, The Kellogg Company has been unable to sell its cereals in the local market for more than a year, due to lawsuits with its distributor. Bloomberg Línea has the story (in English).

Mexico:

• Following a reported near-miss between aircraft at Mexico City’s Benito Juárez international airport, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has pledged to address issues concerning airspace and air traffic controllers. The city’s airspace has been reconfigured following the opening of a second airport earlier this year, and which has raised concerns of possible complications in the air traffic above the country’s capital.

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Peru:

• Peru was unable to participate in the global initiative for Transparency in Extractive Industries, after failing to provide key information on the activities of its mining, energy and hydrocarbon industries.

Venezuela:

• Despite a rebound in April by the country’s consumer price index, inflation in Venezuela has recorded three consecutive months below 5%, according to data from the country’s central bank.