LatAm Media Navel Gaze: February 9, 2018
- On Wednesday, the Argentine company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (YPF SA) signed an agreement to sell 24.99% of its subsidiary Energía Eléctrica (YPF EE) to the North American conglomerate General Electric (GE).
- Brazil's inflation rate was below the official target range and below the lowest forecast for January due to lower power tariffs. On Thursday, government statistics agency IBGE said that consumer prices tracked by the benchmark IPCA index rose 2.86% in the twelve months through January.
- In January, Brazilian exports of green coffee decreased by 5.1%, deepening a decline that started in the last months of 2017 and which is believed to be modified only when the new harvest arrives to the market. For the first time since March 2017, the United States did not lead the list of main consumers of Brazilian coffee, a position occupied by Germany when it bought 20% of coffee exported by Brazil in January, or 513,070 bags.
- In Chile, since Uber-type transport platforms massified in 2016, the price of taxi patents have fallen by about a quarter of its value. Until two years ago the price had been growing exponentially. In just one year the "market" price of the permit to drive a taxi went down from $12 million to $8 million.
- On Thursday, Colombia and Brazil tightened their border controls with Venezuela as both nations grapple with a mounting influx of hundreds of thousands of desperate migrants fleeing a worsening economic crisis.
- Latam Peru reported the launch of an initiative for travel within Peru that includes cheaper prices, which will also be applied to the promotional campaigns presented by the airline with respect to the sale of tickets. Via this initiative the company aims to expand the use of planes as a means of mass transportation in the country, consolidating its operations, as well as provide new and better options to its clients.
- According to the most recent Transactional Track Record report, in January, the transactional market in Latin America registered a total of 125 transactions, of which 64 have a non-confidential amount amounting to approximately US $ 5,290 million.
