Emerging Markets
Latin America, Africa and the Middle East: the currencies, commodities and companies of the emerging world.
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Lula Presses Brazil’s Senate on the Critical Minerals Bill
Brazil's Senate has sat on a critical minerals law since May. Lula met congressional leaders on August 26 and got it onto the agen…
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Brazil’s Poorest Households Carry Record Debt Into a Weaker 2027
Record borrowing among low-income families is the weak point in the country's consumer story. Forecasters now see growth easing in…
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IMF Renews Chile’s Credit Line With a US$11.8 Billion Backstop
The IMF has approved a new two-year Flexible Credit Line for Chile worth about US$11.8 billion. Chile's IMF credit line is precaut…
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Ghana’s Petrosol Bond Is 1.8 Times Oversubscribed as Bids Reach GH¢178m (US$15.9m)
A Ghana corporate bond from fuel retailer Petrosol closed 178 percent subscribed, drawing GH¢178.07m (US$15.9m) of bids against a …
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Zanzibar Starts Spending a US$3.1 Billion Health Promise With Washington
The five-year memorandum is worth about 8.2 trillion shillings. Zanzibar now has to turn it into laboratories, staff and systems t…
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Congo Signs the Lobito Corridor Rail Concession With Mota-Engil
Kinshasa has signed away 30 years of the Dilolo-Sakania railway for an indicative US$1.258 billion, a 7.5 percent royalty and a se…
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Banxico Lifts Mexico Growth Forecast, Says Investment Grade Holds
Banco de México raised its 2026 growth forecast to 1.5% on 26 August. The same quarterly report says the Mexico investment grade s…
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Venezuela’s New Power Rationing Round Slows Factories and Daily Life
Industry lost 44 percent of its working hours to power failures in the second quarter. The new electricity rationing in Venezuela …
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Colombia’s Fiscal Rule Return Ruled Out in the Near Term
Colombia's fiscal rule will not be restored soon, the technical deputy finance minister said this week. The ministry is preparing …
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Argentina Central Bank Charter Clears Deputies, Moves to Senate
Argentina's Chamber of Deputies approved the government's central bank charter reform on 26 August, banning money creation to fund…
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CBZ Puts US$100 Million Into a Highway, Repaid by Tolls
CBZ has committed US$100m to the Harare-Chirundu highway, with repayment ring-fenced against toll collections rather than the budg…
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A Hundred Days In, Congo’s Ebola Outbreak Is Still Getting Bigger
The Bundibugyo outbreak has reached 5,656 confirmed cases and 2,715 deaths, and is now spreading through 58 of the country's healt…
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Nairobi’s Small Importers Say a New Customs Floor Will Finish Them
Kenya raised the minimum customs value for a consolidated 40-foot container from Sh2.5m to Sh3.2m. Traders plan to shut shop on Fr…
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A Council That Didn’t Exist Got N1.3 Billion in Nigeria’s Budget
Nigeria's anti-corruption commission found the Budget Office admitted a body with no establishment instrument into the 2026 approp…
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Mozambique Clears the Last Step Before Opening a Development Bank
The Council of Ministers approved the rules that operationalise the Banco de Desenvolvimento de Mocambique, capitalised at 32 bill…
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Malawi’s State Oil Company Wired US$403,605 to a Stranger
A forged email changed the bank details on a fuel-handling invoice. NOCMA paid, and only found out weeks later when the real suppl…
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Nigeria Now Ships Seven Times More Fuel Than It Did Three Years Ago
Seaborne shipments of refined products from Nigeria rose from 79,000 barrels a day in 2023 to 561,000 in the second quarter of 202…
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Latin American Pulse for Thursday, August 27, 2026
Latin America Pulse: Brazil weighs a R$1tn austerity pitch, Mexico reels from a Culiacán killing, and Argentina banks eye ANSES ho…
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Wheat Jumps 5.31% on Black Sea Risk; Corn, Soy Rise
Soybeans, corn and wheat all rallied on Wednesday, August 26, 2026. Wheat led, up 5.31%, as Black Sea export fears intensified. Re…
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LatAm Steel: Gerdau Jumps 2.29% as Tariffs Hold
Gerdau's ADR climbed 2.29% to US$4.46 while CSN added 0.98% and Ternium dipped 0.13% Wednesday. Brazil's 25% steel tariff and Mexi…
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Guyana, YPF Shale and a WTI Rebound: Wednesday’s Oil
Pre-salt, Stabroek, Vaca Muerta and Pemex: how Latin America's oil names moved on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, as WTI's USO proxy r…
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Lithium Wrap: LIT Slips; Albemarle & SQM Split
Lithium equities diverged on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, as Albemarle gained 1.00% while SQM and the LIT ETF fell. A weak Chinese …
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Iron Ore Steadies: Vale Slips as China Futures Firm
Vale's New York shares fell while China's Dalian iron ore contract consolidated higher. Benchmark ore hovered near US$95.50 a tonn…
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Copper Eases: CPER Fund Falls 1.72% After Strong Run
Copper eased on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, after a strong run. The futures-tracking CPER fund fell 1.72% to US$40.06 as traders l…