By Nathan Gill and David Wethe (Bloomberg) — Andes Petroleum Ecuador Ltd. and Repsol SA, Ecuador’s two biggest foreign oil producers, are shelving plans to drill exploratory wells amid a payment dispute with the OPEC nation’s government, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. Andes, owned by China National Petroleum Corp. and… Read More China’s Andes Said to Join Repsol in Ecuador Oil Drilling Freeze
By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — Ecuador’s congress approved changes to the Andean nation’s labor laws on Tuesday, including the removal of a government subsidy meant to cover almost half of state pensioners’ monthly payments. Lawmakers approved the measure proposed by President Rafael Correa in a 91-to-29 vote, while government supporters and political opposition groups looked… Read More Ecuador Approves New Labor Law With Changes to Public Pensions
By Katia Porzecanski and Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo LLC, a Boston-based money manager, dismissed its lawsuit against Ecuador over debt the nation defaulted on six years ago. The parties agreed to dismiss the suit filed in December in Manhattan federal court, agreeing that each side would pay its own costs and… Read More GMO Settles With Ecuador Over Bonds That Defaulted in 2009
By Katia Porzecanski and Nathan Gill(Bloomberg) — Grantham, Mayo, Van Otterloo LLC, a Boston-based money manager, dismissed its lawsuit against Ecuador over debt the nation defaulted on six years ago. The parties agreed to dismiss the suit filed in December in Manhattan federal court, agreeing that each side would pay its own costs and that… Read More GMO Settles With Ecuador Over Bonds That Defaulted Six Years Ago
By Katia Porzecanski and Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — Six years ago, Ecuador President Rafael Correa’s government denounced the 10 percent in annual interest the country paid on its bonds as “usury.” So when the 51-year-old former economics professor was willing to pay 10.5 percent in a sale of notes this month, it raised speculation the… Read More World’s Costliest Bond Sale in Decade Shows Ecuador Cash Crunch
By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — The rate of growth in Ecuador, South America’s seventh biggest economy, slowed for a third year in 2014 as falling crude oil prices and a refinery shutdown offset gains from higher fishing and electricity output. Gross domestic product rose 3.8 percent in 2014 from a year earlier, less than the… Read More Ecuador GDP Growth Slowed in 2014 for Third Year on Oil Decline
By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — Ecuador got $924 million in previously undisclosed loans from Deutsche Bank AG and other lenders, showing the extent of President Rafael Correa’s effort to line up a record amount of financing as oil prices plunge. The country took $181 million in two separate loans from units of Deutsche Bank and… Read More Ecuador Discloses Loans From Wall Street, China as Oil Sinks
By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — Union Andina de Cementos SAA, Peru’s biggest cement supplier, expects growth in exports will help offset weakening demand from local miners. Overseas sales of clinker, an ingredient in cement production, will surge 18 percent to about 500,000 metric tons this year, Ricardo Rizo Patron, chairman of the company, said Wednesday… Read More Peru Top Cement Maker Unacem Says Exports to Offset Mining Slump
By Katia Porzecanski and Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — Ecuador sold $750 million of five-year bonds overseas to meet its financing needs amid a plunge in the price of crude oil. The country sold the securities to yield 10.5 percent, according to a person familiar with the matter, who isn’t authorized to speak publicly and asked… Read More Ecuador Said to Sell $750 Million of Five-Year Bonds at 10.5%
By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — When President Rafael Correa defaulted on most of Ecuador’s overseas debt in 2008, he disparaged bondholders as “true monsters.” Now, he’s increasingly dependent on their goodwill. Ecuador hired Citigroup Inc. to arrange meetings with investors to gauge demand for what would be the nation’s second international bond sale in the… Read More Monsters of Bond Market Now Correa Go-To as China Is Not Enough
By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — President Rafael Correa’s resourcefulness in the face of sinking oil prices has made Ecuador a favorite among emerging-market bond investors this year. To AllianceBernstein and Capital Economics, Correa needs to do more to ensure that the goodwill doesn’t prove fleeting. The nation’s debt securities returned 4.9 percent as Correa said… Read More Bondholder Love for Ecuador’s Correa Is Questioned: Andes Credit
By Nathan Gill(Bloomberg) — President Rafael Correa, a former economics professor critical of Ecuador’s use of the dollar as its official currency, said the greenback is worsening the impact of falling crude prices as liquidity in the economy contracts. The reliance on the dollar means the government can’t print more money to increase the amount… Read More Ecuador’s Dollar Reliance Worsens Impact of Oil, Correa Says
By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — Nicolas Maduro and Rafael Correa are both socialist disciples of the late Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, but only one is managing to convince bondholders he’s got the ability to weather the collapse in oil prices. While Chavez’s handpicked successor Maduro is struggling to ward off a default, Ecuador counterpart Correa… Read More Bondholders Embracing Chavez’s Disciple in Ecuador: Andes Credit
By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — Ecuador, an OPEC nation that relies on crude for about a quarter of revenue, obtained enough financing from China to avoid deeper budget cuts even as its oil price fell below $40 a barrel, Finance Minister Fausto Herrera said. The Latin American country expects total financing needs for 2015 to… Read More China Rescues Ecuador Budget From Deeper Cuts as Crude Drops
By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — The Export-Import Bank of China granted Ecuador a $5.3 billion credit line after a slide in oil to an almost six-year low prompted spending cuts for the OPEC member. Finance Minister Fausto Herrera said in a statement published today in the president’s official gazette that the Andean nation will use… Read More Ecuador Gains $5.3 Billion Credit Line From China as Oil Tumbles
(Originally published in Bloomberg News) By Nathan Gill (Bloomberg) — Not even the endangered white-bellied spider monkey can escape the lingering consequences of Ecuador President Rafael Correa’s decision to default on $3.2 billion of debt four years ago. Correa, who hasn’t borrowed from the bond market since calling Ecuador’s creditors “true… Read More White-Bellied Spider Monkey Losing to $18 Billion of Oil
By Nathan Gill and Matthew Craze Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — BHP Billiton Ltd. will cease production of refined copper tomorrow at its 200,000-ton-a-year Spence copper mine in Chile because of a strike, a union leader said. Workers stopped mining on Oct. 13, leaving BHP without enough raw materials to be turned into refined copper, union… Read More BHP to Stop Copper Output at Spence Mine, Union Says
By Nathan Gill Oct. 13 (Bloomberg) — Empresa Nacional de Electricidad SA, Chile’s biggest power generator, rose the most in almost four weeks after boosting its stake in a Peruvian unit at an “attractive” price. Endesa, as the company is known, gained 1.3 percent to 868 pesos in Santiago trading, its biggest advance since Sept.… Read More Endesa Chile Rises to Four-Week High on Edegel Stake
By Nathan Gill Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) — Chile’s peso dropped the most in a week as prices for copper, the country’s biggest export, slumped on a strengthening dollar. The peso weakened 0.6 percent to 554.50 per U.S. dollar from 551 yesterday for its steepest drop since Oct. 2. It declined for a third week. Copper… Read More Chile’s Peso Slumps Most in Week as Prices for Copper Decline
By Nathan Gill Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) — Colombia’s peso climbed for a fourth week on speculation the South American country is beginning to recover from its first recession since 1998. The peso climbed 1.3 percent this week to 1924.45 per dollar, extending its advance this month to 7 percent, the biggest gain among 26 emerging-market… Read More Colombian Peso Rises for Fourth Straight Week on Economy
By Nathan Gill Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) — Peruvian central bank President Julio Velarde said the country’s economy has reached a “point of inflexion” after it shrank the most in eight years in June. Rebounding demand in Peru and overseas will probably push the economy to 3.2 percent growth in the second half of 2009, and… Read More Peruvian Economy Has Reached ‘Point of Inflexion,’ Central Bank President Says
By Nathan Gill Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) — Gold Fields Ltd. and Cia. de Minas Buenaventura SA halted exploration of their Titan-Arabe gold and copper deposit in northern Peru after protests by local residents turned deadly, the head of the joint venture said. “We saw that there were constant threats, so we took the decision to… Read More Gold Fields Halts Peru Exploration Project on Protest
By Nathan Gill Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) — Cia. de Minas Buenaventura SA, Peru’s biggest precious-metals miner, rose to its highest in more than a year in Lima trading on a rally in gold prices and the outlook for its La Zanja mine. The Lima-based gold and silver miner advanced for a second day, gaining 7.3… Read More Peru Buenaventura Rises on Gold Rally, La Zanja Mine
By Nathan Gill Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) — Peru’s economy contracted for a second month as demand for the South American country’s fishing, manufacturing and metal exports fell. Gross domestic product fell 1.4 percent in July from the same month a year earlier, after a 2.1 percent year-on-year decline in June, the government statistics agency said… Read More Peru’s Economy Shrank 1.4% in July From Year Earlier
By Nathan Gill Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) — Petroleos del Peru SA, the oil producer known as Petroperu, said a fire at its Talara refinery in northern Peru didn’t affect production. The fire, which started yesterday in the refinery’s vacuum distillation unit as a pressure meter was being installed, was “immediately controlled” and operations continued normally,… Read More Peru’s Talara Refinery Production Unaffected by Fire
By James Attwood and Nathan Gill Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) — Chile’s peso fell to a two-month low after copper, the country’s biggest export, declined and the U.S. dollar strengthened against major currencies. Chile’s currency, up 14 percent so far this year, dropped 1.3 percent to 558.75 per U.S. dollar at 12:01 p.m. New York time,… Read More Chile’s Peso Falls as Copper Declines; Peruvian Sol Slides
By James Attwood and Nathan Gill Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) — Cencosud SA, Chile’s biggest retailer by sales, posted a steeper-than-estimated drop in second-quarter profit on lower sales and currency losses. First-half net income fell 66 percent, the Santiago-based company reported in a regulatory filing today without giving separate second-quarter results. Second-quarter profit fell to 8.96… Read More Chile’s Cencosud Quarterly Profit Slides More Than Estimated
By James Attwood and Nathan Gill Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) — SACI Falabella SA, Chile’s biggest retailer by market value, reported a 48 percent slump in second-quarter profit because of a drop in sales and foreign-exchange rate losses. Net income fell to 33.4 billion pesos ($60.5 million) from 63.7 billion pesos a year earlier, the Santiago-based… Read More Chile’s Falabella Profit Falls 48% on Sales Drop, Currencies
By Sebastian Boyd and Nathan Gill July 3 (Bloomberg) — Finance ministers from North and South America meeting in Chile agreed to push for more financing for multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, Chile’s Andres Velasco said. The IDB’s board may agree to vote for a capital… Read More Latin America Ministers Urge More Money for Lenders
By Sebastian Boyd and Nathan Gill July 3 (Bloomberg) — Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said her government supports the recapitalization of the Inter-American Development Bank to help developing countries cope with declining capital flows. Bachelet, speaking today to finance ministers from North and South America, urged member governments to help raise additional funding… Read More Bachelet Says Chile Supports Recapitalization of IDB
By Andres R. Martinez and Nathan Gill June 29 (Bloomberg) — Hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police and soldiers outside Honduras’ presidential palace a day after the military arrested President Manuel Zelaya at gunpoint and put him on a plane out of the country. Regional leaders, from market-friendly Mexican President Felipe Calderon… Read More Honduran Protesters, Soldiers Clash Outside Palace After Coup
By Nathan Gill and Joshua Goodman June 29 (Bloomberg) — Latin American leaders are gathering in an emergency summit to restore Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to office after his ouster by the military yesterday in a showdown over a referendum on term limits. Regional leaders, from market-friendly Mexican President Felipe Calderon to self-declared… Read More Latin America Leaders Call Summit to Restore Zelaya (Update 4)
By Nathan Gill and Eric Sabo June 29 (Bloomberg) — Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, ousted by the military, meets with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and regional leaders today in a show of support designed to restore him as head of the Central American country. Zelaya said soldiers surrounded his house and forced him… Read More Latin America Calls Summit to Try to Restore Zelaya in Honduras
