All Entries in the "Opinion" Category
Corruption is growing (again) in Latin America
Latin America has achieved great things over the last decade: improved income distribution, less poverty, more home ownership, higher literacy, and a more robust democracy, among them. Corruption, on the other hand, has worsened. Comparing 2011 Transparency International Corruption index metrics with those of a decade earlier reveals a startling trend of increased corruption across [...]
Letter from the editor: What business leaders want
Latin America is a region that is under construction. Economic growth is finally promoting the availability of better public services. It is helping to develop relations between governments and their citizens. Serious efforts are being made to develop infrastructure, and — in some cases —governments are becoming more transparent and efficient. In brief, the region [...]
Letter from the editor: Business Revs Up For Growth In 2013
This year will be a good one for Latin America. In what is the first issue of Latin Trade for 2013, we want to show you what lies behind our optimism from a variety of angles. Maybe we’ve been donning our rosy-tinted spectacles. After all, the region’s economic growth came to a close on 3.1 [...]
Credit is King
The expansion of credit has dramatically altered the consumer landscape in Latin America over the last decade. Going back a bit further, in 1990, fewer than 3 percent of Latin American households had a credit card. By 2020, that figure will grow to 25 percent. In Brazil, where credit has grown even more radically, consumer [...]
Searching for El Silicon Valley of Latin America
Politicians across the globe are fond of touting their nation’s high-tech cluster as the next Silicon Valley. Few examples around the world, however, can stack up to the California original. None on that short-list can be found in Latin America. Modern Latin America can boast several fields of excellence but innovation is not one of them. [...]
20 Years of History
A good magazine will always strive to portray current issues accurately. Its pages should reflect the points of view and events of the region that matter most to its readers. These are all strong reasons why a good magazine should keep up with the times. We believe that Latin Trade, over the last 20 years, [...]
President Ollanta Humala’s first year: a score card
During the first half of last year, presidential candidate Ollanta Humala rose in the opinion polls and went on to become the overall winner in the first round of voting. Then, the day after his victory, the Lima Stock Exchange fell 12.5 percent, the worst one-day decline in its history. Looking toward a second round [...]
Time for a little austerity in Latin America
Giving too much money to politicians is like feeding candy to children: it always leads to bad behavior. Latin America is no exception. The decade-long economic boom driven by high commodity prices and cheap capital has been good to Latin American governments and consumers alike. In 2009, when the global financial crisis struck, households and [...]
Why Multi-Latinas Are Winning
In 1999, less than half of the largest 500 companies in Latin America were homegrown. By 2007, Latin American firms commanded three out of every four positions in the regional top 500. Today, multi-Latinas, armed with cash, are stepping out of their comfort zone and taking control of debt-laden firms in Europe and the United [...]
Latin America’s New Breed of Corporate Leaders
The leaders of Latin America’s successful, 21st century companies represent a new kind of executive and this is having important repercussions across the board. Today these people are generally professionals –many of them hold MBAs– with a world view directed toward the sustainability of their business, their environment and their community. They are knowledgeable about [...]
BRAVO Forum: Challenges & Opportunities for Brazil
Brazil has prepared itself in recent years to become a leading nation in the international arena through macroeconomic and social changes that were carried out by governments with different political orientations but a similar aim. Today, Brazil is experiencing a unique moment in its history. However, although it is essentially immune to the economic crises [...]
Opinion: A Latin Solution To An African Problem
Fifteen years ago, Mexico did something that, until then, only rich countries had dared to do – it began to transfer cash directly to its poor. The payments were conditional: Recipients had to help themselves by keeping their children in school and vaccinating them. Today, about 70 developing countries have followed the example, and most [...]
The Contrarian: Go South, Joven
Twenty years ago, when I first headed south to Mexico to launch my Latin American career, I filled my last tank of U.S. gasoline outside of El Paso, Texas. When the station manager, an old Tejano, learned I was moving to Mexico, he quipped, “You’re going the wrong way, man. They’re all moving here.” How [...]
Einigkeit, Europe?
Alberto Bernal-Leon of Bulltick Capital Markets. What does the euro need to survive? It’s hard to believe, but nearly four years have passed since the outbreak of the worst global economic crisis since 1929. Many things have changed since that fateful September day when the U.S. Treasury committed the worst economic mistake in modern history: [...]
Calderon’s Mixed Legacy: Success or Failure?
When Felipe Calderon leaves Mexico’s presidency in December, he will leave behind a mixed legacy, as our special report shows. That might not seem impressive at first glance, but there’s a case to be made that it actually could represent a certain degree of accomplishment and success for Calderon. After all, he faced an unprecedented [...]
The Contrarian: Reforms the key to improve competitiveness in Mexico
The World Economic Forum’s annual competitiveness ranking is the global beauty pageant for competing nations. Mexico, the darling of emerging markets in the 1990s, had gradually slipped into the “ugly duckling” range of nations, ranking No. 66 by 2010. But Mexico got a bit of a face lift in September 2011, rising eight positions to [...]
Mexico: Opportunities Ahead
Mexico, together with other Latin American countries, has a unique opportunity to assume a position of leadership, growth and deve-lopment. These countries have assets that must be appropriately valued, particularly regarding European economies and other developed economies. These are: 1) solid macroeconomic factors; 2) healthy financial systems that were not severely affected by the crisis [...]
Calderon’s Economic Legacy
Research fellow at INEGI and former chief economist for Latin America and Mexico at HSBC Mexico. Vicente Fox’s economic legacy as president of Mexico was extremely mediocre, despite having consolidated the macroeconomic stability he inherited from Ernesto Zedillo. The average annual 2.1 percent growth over his six-year administration (the worst in Mexican history, with the [...]
Felipe Calderon’s Legacy on Security
Managing Director, FTI Consulting Mexico In a national context marked by growing violence in recent years and a high crime rate, the full-frontal effort of Mexico’s federal government to combat organized crime is noteworthy, as is its determination to reform security forces and improve the legal and operative capacity of the Mexican state to fight [...]
The Bottom Line: Investor Confidence
If you were to judge the future of Colombia from what you read on Twitter, you would have a gloomy vision of what is to come. Every day, without exception, many of us who try to play an advocacy role on this social network receive striking insults largely for presenting numbers-backed evidence about pragmatic global [...]
The Contrarian: Does Europe Matter Anymore?
How might Latin America fare in such a gloomy environment? Surprisingly well thanks to its own fiscal and monetary discipline and an historic pattern of declining European trade and investment links. Many Latin Americans are proud of their European heritage and go to great lengths to sustain their cultural links to the old continent. Fortunately [...]
Latin America’s Competitive Advantage
While Latin America in general lags behind the United States in competitiveness, it can actually boast a competitive advantage in certain areas. One such area is airline service and comfort. While some U.S. airlines flying Latin American routes typically offer poor service aboard old and run-down planes, Latin American airlines like Avianca, LAN, TAM and [...]
Colombian Star
While Brazil will continue to garner most of the foreign direct investment going to Latin America the next few years, many companies are increasingly looking at another market for strong growth and relatively big numbers: Colombia, the largest Latin American market by population outside of Brazil and Mexico.
Thank You, China!
Jose Antonio Rios, chairman of Global Crossing Latin America, is right on in pointing out that China helps Latin America more than it hurts it.
The Contrarian: Protectionism returns to South America
Once sheepish about protecting select industries, South American governments are growing bolder in
The Bottom Line: The three vertices of Latin America
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of sharing the lectern in Bogota with Dr. Augusto de la Torre, the World Bank’s chief economist for Latin America, at the Universidad de los Andes’ School of Government, which is led by Colombia’s former energy minister Carlos Caballero Argáez.
Recharge Latin America
While Latin America has reason to be proud of its economic growth in recent years, the region needs to implement a series of reforms to make it much more competitive.
The Contrarian: Bet on the Hare, not the Turtle
Why Latin America, not China, is the world’s most exciting market opportunity … in the short term.
The Bottom Line: Argentina: Securing the Future
Argentina’s economy has changed radically over the last nine years. According to official statistics, the economic growth since the end of the crisis in 2002 — from the year 2003 through 2010
Punto Clave: Y Si Se Nos Viene Una Crisis Igual A La Del 2008?
He argumentado muchas veces en columnas de opinión en Latin Trade y en otros diarios, al igual que en los documentos de investigación económica que le enviamos a nuestros clientes desde Bulltick Capital Markets, que los modelos estándar que los economistas usamos para predecir una recesión económica no muestran indicios de que estemos al borde [...]
