Argentina’s Foreign Minister Diana Mondino recently visited Paris to attend the Ministerial Council meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). During the meeting, Mondino received a roadmap that outlines economic reforms Argentina must take in order to become an OECD member. The OECD will specifically monitor Argentina’s advancement in areas such as commerce, investment, the fight against corruption, and climate change, among others. Despite having indicated its intent to join the OECD in 2016, Argentina had not received a roadmap from the international organization until now. (La Nación)
The OECD projected that Argentina’s GDP would fall 3.3% in 2024, making it the country with the second-highest economic contraction in the world, behind Saudi Arabia (El Cronista). However, the organization projected that GDP would grow 2.7% the following year. The OECD in February had projected that Argentina’s GDP would fall 2.3% this year.
Even still, the OECD published improved inflation estimates for Argentina, projecting an inflation rate of 208.1% by the end of 2024, down from their February projection of 250.6%. In 2025, inflation is expected to close at 71.2% (Ámbito).
Mexico
“The Mexican government has spent little looking for the missing,” says AP, highlighting at times dangerous, and even fatal, efforts to hunt down clandestine graves and provide closure for families of missing persons: “If the volunteers find something, the most authorities will do is send a police and forensics team to retrieve remains, which in most cases are never identified. The government also hasn’t adequately funded or implemented a genetic database to help identify remains.”
Costa Rica
Costa Rica “consistently gets around 99 percent of its electricity from renewables. Even so, it’s not a perfect system. Climate change poses new risks to the power grid, and Costa Rica has a lot of work left to do to get more solar and wind farms online,” reports The Verge, noting that the country will need to diversify from its heavy reliance on hydropower considering projected medium-term decreases in rainfall in the north.
Regional
The New Yorker highlights growing evangelical missions to Latin America, looking at the historical trajectory of these efforts and explaining, “By 2014, a Pew Research Center survey found that about one in five Latin Americans identified as Protestants, though just one in ten said that they had been born into a Protestant family.”
“As migration strains city coffers and climate change fuels population shifts, Latin American cities are attracting fresh interest from practitioners and academics seeking solutions to the most pressing urban challenges in the US,” reports Bloomberg, highlighting innovations by several Latin American cities to respond to urban challenges.
Brazil
“The death toll from heavy rains in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul rose to 13,” reports Reuters. (see also yesterday’s LADB)
The Brazilian government would like to officially propose a 2% wealth tax on the world’s billionaires by the G20 meeting at the end of July, reports the Guardian, conceding the improbability of such an initiative actually coming to fruition.
Ecuador
Ecuador’s free trade agreement with China took effect yesterday, with exports potentially climbing to between $3 and $4 billion in 10 years, said the International Commerce and Production Minister Sonsoles García. (La Voz)
Venezuela
“Venezuelan oil exports declined 38% in April after tanker owners and customers pulled several vessels waiting to load out of the country's waters as a reimposition of U.S. sanctions approached,” reports Reuters.
Colombia
Yesterday, President Gustavo Petro announced Colombia would be breaking ties with Israel, over “what he calls the ‘genocide’ of the Palestinian people,” says EFE. Petro had already threatened to break diplomatic ties with the Middle Eastern country twice before.