/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCRLA_Public/240514.mbx
T R O U B L E D C O M P A N Y R E P O R T E R
L A T I N A M E R I C A
Tuesday, May 14, 2024, Vol. 25, No. 97
Headlines
A R G E N T I N A
ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires April Inflation Rate Drops to Single-Digit
ARGENTINA: Industrial Output, Construction Plunge Amid Recession
B E R M U D A
NABORS INDUSTRIES: Incurs $34.3 Million Net Loss in 2024 Q1
B R A Z I L
BANCO COOPERATIVO: S&P Places 'BB' ICR on CreditWatch Negative
BRAZIL: Rolls Out USD9.9BB Plan to Help Victims of Massive Floods
G U Y A N A
GUYANA: Gov't Looking to Attain Additional Power
J A M A I C A
JAMAICA: Agriculture Could Soon Account for 10% of Jamaica's GDP
X X X X X X X X
LATAM: Countries Suffer High Inequality Levels
LATAM: Tax Revenue Rose due to Higher Prices for Oil and Gas
- - - - -
=================
A R G E N T I N A
=================
ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires April Inflation Rate Drops to Single-Digit
------------------------------------------------------------------
Buenos Aires Times reports that consumer prices in Buenos Aires
City rose 9.8 percent last month for an accumulated annual increase
of 292.5 percent, City Hall announced.
The figure is a boost for the national government, which is hoping
for a single-digit figure when the national rate is revealed,
according to Buenos Aires Times.
Inflation in the first four months of this year so far totals 72.6
percent, City statisticians concluded, the report notes.
Three-quarters of the increases last month were explained by the
following ítems: Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels
(22.9 percent), Health (13 percent), Food and beverages (5.1
percent), Salud, Information and communication (11.7 percent) and
Restaurants and hotels (6.1 percent), the report discloses.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels registered the
steepest increase thanks largely to the soaring public service
billing of water and natural gas, while health came next due to
increased prepaid health plan charges, despite government
intervention, the report relays.
Food and beverages were well below average as a whole with dairy
products (9.5 percent) and vegetables (10.5 percent) registering
the highest increases while meat prices rose 5.9 percent, the
report relays. Within the Restaurant and hotels category, the
former rose well above the average of 6.1 percent while hotels
increased less, the report notes.
April's inflation was driven very much more by services (up by 13.8
percent) than by goods (4.8 percent), the reprot relays. The main
increases in the latter corresponded to food (chiefly dairy
products, meat and vegetables), followed by garments, fuels and
medicine, the report says.
The increased cost of services was dominated by the surge in the
public service billing of water and natural gas, followed by
prepaid medicine, restaurants and apartment expenses, the report
discloses.
In the first four months of the year the cumulative increase for
goods was 61.8 percent while services rose 81.8 percent, the report
relays. This pans out into a 305.5 percent declaration for goods
and a 283.1 percent acceleration in services when measured in
annual terms, the report notes.
REM Poll Predicts Single-Digit
The 39 consultants surveyed by the Central Bank have measured an
inflation of nine percent for April, dipping to 7.5 percent for
May, but they expect deflation to slow down thereafter, the report
relays. Their calculated forecast for this year is 161.3 percent
with a core inflation (excluding seasonal and regulated prices) of
145.1 percent, the report discloses.
Their predictions for the next five months are 6.8 percent for
June, 6.3 percent for July, six percent for August, 5.8 percent
for September and 5.2 percent for October, the report says.
The nationwide inflation figure for April will be announced by the
INDEC national statistics bureau with both the Economy Ministry and
the economists of the main private companies anticipating a return
to single digits for the first time since October, 2023 (8.3
percent), the report adds.
About Argentina
Argentina is a country located mostly in the southern half of South
America. Its capital is Buenos Aires. Javier Milei is the current
president of Argentina after winning the November 19, 2023 general
election. He succeeded Alberto Angel Fernandez in the position.
Argentina has the third largest economy in Latin America. The
country's economy is an upper middle-income economy for fiscal year
2019, according to the World Bank. Historically, however, its
economic performance has been very uneven, with high economic
growth alternating with severe recessions, income maldistribution
and in the recent decades, increasing poverty.
The IMF's executive board completed on August 23, 2023, the fifth
and six reviews of Argentina's 30-month Extended Fund Facility
(EFF), and approved a US$7.5-billion disbursement to Argentina as
part of the larger program, which refinances payments Argentina
owes the institution from a previous bailout that failed to
stabilize the economy in 2018. Argentina would receive another IMF
disbursement in November of about US$2.75 billion pending another
staff-level agreement and board approval.
S&P Global Ratings, on March 15, 2024, raised its local currency
sovereign credit ratings on Argentina to 'CCC/C' from 'SD/SD' and
its national scale rating to 'raB+' from 'SD'. S&P also raised its
long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating to 'CCC' from
'CCC-' and affirmed its 'C' short-term foreign currency rating. The
outlook on the long-term ratings is stable. In addition, S&P
revised its transfer and convertibility assessment to 'CCC' from
'CCC-'.
S&P said the stable outlook on the long-term ratings balances the
risks posed by pronounced economic imbalances and policy
uncertainties with the favorable change in near-term debt service
obligations. S&P also expect no further debt exchanges that it
would likely consider to be distressed.
Fitch Ratings upgraded on June 13, 2023, Argentina's Long-Term
Foreign Currency (FC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'CC' from
'C'and affirmed the Long-Term Local Currency (LC) IDR at 'CCC-'.
Fitch typically does not assign Outlooks to sovereigns with a
rating of 'CCC+' or below.
The upgrade of the FC IDR reflects that Fitch no longer deems a
default-like process to have begun, as the authorities have not
signaled a clear intention to follow through with an intra-public
debt swap announced in March. The new 'CC' rating signals a default
event of some sort appears probable in the coming years, regardless
of the outcome of upcoming elections. The affirmation of the LC IDR
at 'CCC-' follows the peso debt swap in June that Fitch did not
deem to be a "distressed debt exchange" (DDE).
Moody's Investors Service, in September 2022, affirmed Argentina's
Ca foreign-currency and local-currency long-term issuer and senior
unsecured ratings. The outlook remains stable. The decision to
affirm the Ca ratings balances Argentina's limited market access,
weak governance, and history of recurrent debt restructurings with
recent efforts to marshal fiscal and monetary measures to start
addressing underlying macroeconomic imbalances in the context of
the IMF program that was approved in 2022, according to Moody's.
DBRS, Inc. confirmed Argentina's Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer
Rating at CCC and downgraded its Long-Term Local Currency Issuer
Rating to CCC from CCC (high) on March 3, 2023.
ARGENTINA: Industrial Output, Construction Plunge Amid Recession
----------------------------------------------------------------
Buenos Aires Times reports that Argentina's manufacturing sector
performed far worse than expected in March, confirming economists'
views that President Javier Milei's austerity campaign is deepening
a looming recession.
Industrial production dropped 21.2 percent in March from a year
ago, worse than the 13.5 percent decline forecast by analysts
surveyed by Bloomberg, according to Buenos Aires Times.
Construction activity also plunged 42 percent in March, its worst
annual decline since mid-2020 when the country was in a strict
lockdown due to the pandemic, the report relays. Both indicators
fell on a monthly basis too, according to government data published
May 8, the report notes.
Economists expect Argentina's economy to contract 3.5 percent this
year with much of the pain concentrated in the first half of the
year, according to the Central Bank's monthly survey published May
7, the report discloses.
Beyond the drop in activity, factories are anticipating major
lay-offs, the report relays. Over 73 percent of manufacturing
employers expect to reduce headcount in the second quarter this
year compared to the same period last year, while only 4.6 percent
plan to hire more, while the rest won't make changes, according to
the government figures, the report notes.
Argentina has lost 48,000 construction jobs from November to
February, or 11 percent of total employment in the sector,
according to the most recent figures released, the report
discloses. Milei took office December 10, the report adds.
About Argentina
Argentina is a country located mostly in the southern half of South
America. Its capital is Buenos Aires. Javier Milei is the current
president of Argentina after winning the November 19, 2023 general
election. He succeeded Alberto Angel Fernandez in the position.
Argentina has the third largest economy in Latin America. The
country's economy is an upper middle-income economy for fiscal year
2019, according to the World Bank. Historically, however, its
economic performance has been very uneven, with high economic
growth alternating with severe recessions, income maldistribution
and in the recent decades, increasing poverty.
The IMF's executive board completed on August 23, 2023, the fifth
and six reviews of Argentina's 30-month Extended Fund Facility
(EFF), and approved a US$7.5-billion disbursement to Argentina as
part of the larger program, which refinances payments Argentina
owes the institution from a previous bailout that failed to
stabilize the economy in 2018. Argentina would receive another IMF
disbursement in November of about US$2.75 billion pending another
staff-level agreement and board approval.
S&P Global Ratings, on March 15, 2024, raised its local currency
sovereign credit ratings on Argentina to 'CCC/C' from 'SD/SD' and
its national scale rating to 'raB+' from 'SD'. S&P also raised its
long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating to 'CCC' from
'CCC-' and affirmed its 'C' short-term foreign currency rating. The
outlook on the long-term ratings is stable. In addition, S&P
revised its transfer and convertibility assessment to 'CCC' from
'CCC-'.
S&P said the stable outlook on the long-term ratings balances the
risks posed by pronounced economic imbalances and policy
uncertainties with the favorable change in near-term debt service
obligations. S&P also expect no further debt exchanges that it
would likely consider to be distressed.
Fitch Ratings upgraded on June 13, 2023, Argentina's Long-Term
Foreign Currency (FC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'CC' from
'C'and affirmed the Long-Term Local Currency (LC) IDR at 'CCC-'.
Fitch typically does not assign Outlooks to sovereigns with a
rating of 'CCC+' or below.
The upgrade of the FC IDR reflects that Fitch no longer deems a
default-like process to have begun, as the authorities have not
signaled a clear intention to follow through with an intra-public
debt swap announced in March. The new 'CC' rating signals a default
event of some sort appears probable in the coming years, regardless
of the outcome of upcoming elections. The affirmation of the LC IDR
at 'CCC-' follows the peso debt swap in June that Fitch did not
deem to be a "distressed debt exchange" (DDE).
Moody's Investors Service, in September 2022, affirmed Argentina's
Ca foreign-currency and local-currency long-term issuer and senior
unsecured ratings. The outlook remains stable. The decision to
affirm the Ca ratings balances Argentina's limited market access,
weak governance, and history of recurrent debt restructurings with
recent efforts to marshal fiscal and monetary measures to start
addressing underlying macroeconomic imbalances in the context of
the IMF program that was approved in 2022, according to Moody's.
DBRS, Inc. confirmed Argentina's Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer
Rating at CCC and downgraded its Long-Term Local Currency Issuer
Rating to CCC from CCC (high) on March 3, 2023.
=============
B E R M U D A
=============
NABORS INDUSTRIES: Incurs $34.3 Million Net Loss in 2024 Q1
-----------------------------------------------------------
Nabors Industries Ltd. filed with the U.S Securities and Exchange
Commission its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q reporting a net loss
attributable to Nabors totaling $34.3 million for the three months
ended March 31, 2024, compared to a net income attributable to
Nabors of $49.2 million for the three months ended March 31, 2023,
or a $83.6 million decrease in net income.
Operating revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2024,
totaled $733.7 million, representing a decrease of $45.4 million,
or 6%, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2023. Nabors
said the decrease in net income is attributable to a decline in
U.S. activity, which has resulted in a decrease of approximately
$14.6 million in adjusted operating income for the Company's
segments from the prior year. In addition, gains related to
mark-to-market activity for the common share warrants and debt
buybacks loss during the three months ended March 31, 2024,
contributed approximately $3.1 million to net income compared to
gains of $59.2 million during the three months ended March 31,
2023, contributing $56.1 million to the decrease.
General and administrative expenses for the three months ended
March 31, 2024, totaled $61.8 million, representing a minimal
increase of $21,000 compared to the three months ended March 31,
2023, as general operating costs remained consistent with prior
year.
Research and engineering expenses for the three months ended March
31, 2024 totaled $13.9 million, representing a decrease of $1.2
million, or 8%, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2023.
This is primarily reflective of a decrease in research and
development activities due to current industry market conditions.
Depreciation and amortization expense for the three months ended
March 31, 2024 was $157.7 million, representing a decrease of $5.3
million, or 3%, compared to the three months ended March 31, 2023.
The decrease is a result of the limited capital expenditures over
recent years coupled with a higher amount of older assets reaching
the end of their useful lives.
A full-text copy of the Company's Form 10-Q is available at
https://tinyurl.com/2z847vt2
About Nabors
Bermuda-based Nabors Industries Ltd. (NYSE: NBR) owns and operates
land-based drilling rig fleets and provides offshore platform rigs
in the United States and several international markets. Nabors
also provides directional drilling services, tubular services,
performance software, and innovative technologies for its own rig
fleet and those of third parties.
Nabors Industries reported a net loss of $11.8 million for the year
ended December 31, 2023, a net loss of $307.22 million in 2022, a
net loss $543.69 million in 2021, a net loss of $762.85 million in
2020, a net loss of $680.51 million in 2019, a net loss of $612.73
million in 2018, and a net loss of $540.63 million in 2017.
As of March 31, 2024, the Company had $4.64 billion in total
assets, $3.37 billion in total liabilities, and $522.82 million in
total stockholders' equity.
* * *
In September 2023, Egan-Jones Ratings Company upgraded the foreign
currency and local currency senior unsecured ratings on debt issued
by Nabors Industries, Inc. to CCC+ from CCC-.
In March 2024, S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook to stable
from positive and affirmed its 'B-' issuer credit rating on Nabors
Industries Ltd. At the same time, S&P affirmed its 'B-' issue-level
rating on the company's senior priority guaranteed notes with
recovery rating of '3' and 'CCC' issue-level rating on the
company's priority guaranteed notes with recovery rating of '6'.
The stable outlook reflects S&P's expectation for the company's
operating performance, industry fundamentals, near-term debt
maturity profile, and credit metrics to remain appropriate for the
'B-' issuer credit rating. The outlook revision reflects S&P's
expectation of reduced free cash flow generation and lower than
anticipated debt reduction.
===========
B R A Z I L
===========
BANCO COOPERATIVO: S&P Places 'BB' ICR on CreditWatch Negative
--------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings placed its 'BB' issuer credit and 'brAAA'
national scale ratings on Banco Cooperativo Sicredi S.A. on
CreditWatch with negative implications.
In S&P's view, it's too early to assess how the fallout from the
flooding will affect the agricultural sector, services, industry,
private property, and public infrastructure in the region, where
the Sicredi cooperative system has significant exposure.
S&P said, "We base our analysis on our opinion that the bank and
the credit unions that are part of the system form an integrated
institution that would provide support in any foreseeable
circumstance to any of the system's entities. We believe that the
bank's high importance for the system's strategy--given that it's
the intermediary between the credit unions and the market--makes it
a core entity for its group. As a result, the rating on the bank
reflects the group's credit profile."
The system comprises more than 7.5 million members across more than
100 cooperatives, which are aggregated in five regional credit
centers. Despite its presence in 26 Brazilian states, the Sicredi
system still has geographic concentration. Approximately 57% of its
credit portfolio is in southern Brazil, of which 30% is in the
state of RS. Moreover, around 40% of its loan portfolio is
agrobusiness, where the impact was severe.
S&P will continue monitoring new developments in the region,
including the extent and duration of the damage due to the risk of
future rainfall, and how they could affect the bank and Sicredi
cooperative system.
CreditWatch
S&P said, "We plan to resolve the CreditWatch placement in the next
three months following a more thorough review of the impact from
the recent flooding. In our view, the Sicredi system's revenue
base, earnings, funding stability, and capital position could
weaken depending on the severity of losses, which could lead to a
downgrade."
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) credit factors for this
change in credit rating/outlook and/or CreditWatch status:
-- Climate transition risks
BRAZIL: Rolls Out USD9.9BB Plan to Help Victims of Massive Floods
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Bloomberg News reports that Brazil Finance Minister Fernando Haddad
rolled out a plan worth BRL50.9 billion ($9.9 billion) to help
millions of people hit by floods in the nation's south as investors
keep a wary eye on public spending.
The initial measures, which include subsidized credit from the
federal government, will be directed to 3.5 million people
including workers, social program beneficiaries and rural
producers, as well as companies, states and municipalities, Haddad
said. The proposals entail an impact of BRL7.7 billion on this
year's primary budget result, which excludes interest payments, he
said, notes the report.
Torrential rains in the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul
have left at least 107 people dead and 165,000 displaced, setting
up a defining moment in Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's presidency. The
devastation has hit industries including agriculture, manufacturing
and banking, increasing spending pressure at a time when investors
are already fretting over public accounts.
"This money will not be taken from other regions of the country,"
Haddad said, notes the report. "It is the federal government that
is contributing these resources to Rio Grande do Sul without
harming the programs that serve other regions of Brazil."
The government will speed up social benefit payments in May, and
will present a proposal to renegotiate Rio Grande do Sul's debts,
Haddad said, relays Bloomberg News.
About Brazil
Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and third largest
in the Americas. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva won the 2022 Brazilian
general election. He was sworn in on January 1, 2023, as the 39th
president of Brazil, succeeding Jair Bolsonaro.
As reported in the TCR-LA on May 6, 2024, Moody's Ratings affirmed
the Government of Brazil's long-term issuer and senior unsecured
bond ratings at Ba2, senior unsecured shelf rating at (P)Ba2 and
changed the outlook to positive from stable. Moody's assesses that
Brazil's real GDP growth prospects are more robust than in the
pre-pandemic years, supported by the implementation of structural
reforms over multiple administrations, as well as the presence of
institutional guardrails that reduce uncertainty around future
policy direction. The outlook change to positive is underpinned
by Moody's assessment that more robust growth combined with
continued, albeit gradual, progress towards fiscal consolidation,
may allow Brazil's debt burden to stabilize. However, there are
risks to the government's execution of continued fiscal
consolidation.
S&P Global Ratings raised on Dec. 19, 2023, its long-term global
scale ratings on Brazil to 'BB' from 'BB-'. The outlook on the
long-term ratings is stable. S&P affirmed Brazil's global scale
short-term ratings at 'B' and its national scale long-term rating
at 'brAAA'. S&P also raised the transfer and convertibility
assessment on the country to 'BBB-' from 'BB+'. S&P said, "The
stable outlook reflects our expectation that Brazil will maintain
a strong external position, thanks to strong commodity output and
limited external financing needs. We also believe Brazil's
institutional framework can sustain stable and pragmatic
policymaking based on extensive checks and balances across the
executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government. We
expect a very gradual fiscal correction but anticipate fiscal
deficits will remain large."
Fitch Ratings affirmed on Dec. 15, 2023, Brazil's Long-Term
Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BB' with a Stable
Outlook. Fitch said Brazil's ratings are supported by its large
and
diverse economy, high per-capita income, and deep domestic markets
and a large cash cushion that support the sovereign's financing
flexibility and its high local-currency debt share. Strong
external
finances support resilience to shocks, underpinned by a flexible
exchange rate, robust international reserves and a sovereign net
external creditor position. The ratings are constrained by weak
economic growth potential, relatively low governance scores, high
and rising government debt/GDP, and budgetary rigidities. A new
fiscal framework introduced this year aims to anchor a gradual
consolidation process and address these fiscal weaknesses, but its
effectiveness is increasingly unclear.
DBRS Inc., on August 15, 2023, upgraded Brazil's Long-Term
Foreign and Local Currency - Issuer Ratings to BB from BB (low).
At the same time, DBRS Morningstar confirmed Brazil's
Short-term Foreign and Local Currency - Issuer Ratings at R-4.
The trend on all ratings is Stable (March 2018).
===========
G U Y A N A
===========
GUYANA: Gov't Looking to Attain Additional Power
------------------------------------------------
RJR News reports that the Guyana government is seeking to acquire
an additional 30 megawatts of electricity to support generation
efforts as work continues to connect the powership from
Karpowership International to supply 36 megawatts of electricity to
the national grid.
Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo says the additional supply will also
help supplement the heightened demand until the Gas to Energy
project comes on stream in 2025, according to RJR News.
The Guyana Power and Light Company has paid a mobilisation fee of
one million dollars to rent the 36-megawatt powership from the
Turkish company, the report relays.
The company has also confirmed that it will pay US$6.62 per
kilowatt hour as a monthly charter fee for the powership and a
maintenance fee of S$0.98 per kilowatt hour based on the
electricity generated, the report adds.
=============
J A M A I C A
=============
JAMAICA: Agriculture Could Soon Account for 10% of Jamaica's GDP
----------------------------------------------------------------
Javaughn Keyes at RJR News reports that agriculture is projected to
account for 10 per cent of Jamaica's Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
in the short to medium term.
Agriculture Minister Floyd Green says the impact of the sector on
GDP would be greater reflected if agriculture-related manufacturing
processes were categorized under the industry, according to RJR
News.
"Over the last 10 or so years, we've been moving from contributing
about 5% of GDP to now 8.3%, and we do expect to hit 10% in another
two years or so. And I say that understanding that we do a very
unfortunate thing in Jamaica where we disaggregate agriculture from
agricultural manufacturers, and we count manufacturing separately
from agriculture. So when you really count CB [Group], which is an
agricultural company on our contributions to GDP, we would be far
more than 8.3%," Mr. Green noted, says the report.
Mr. Green said the poultry industry contributes to more than 80 per
cent of the local agricultural GDP, the report discloses.
In local data collecting, manufacturing is a stand alone category,
and is not disaggregated to show agro-processing and other
agriculture related manufacturing, the report adds.
About Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea.
Jamaica is an upper-middle income country with an economy heavily
dependent on tourism. Other major sectors of the Jamaican economy
include agriculture, mining, manufacturing, petroleum refining,
financial and insurance services.
In October 2023, Moody's upgraded the Government of Jamaica's
long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to B1 from B2, and
senior unsecured shelf rating to (P)B1 from (P)B2. The outlook has
been changed to positive from stable. The upgrade of Jamaica's
rating to B1 reflects the government's sustained commitment to
fiscal consolidation and debt reduction. The positive outlook
reflects Moody's assessment that a continuation of the favorable
fiscal trajectory will further increase Jamaica's credit
resilience.
S&P Global Ratings raised on September 13, 2023, its long-term
foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Jamaica to
'BB-' from 'B+', and affirmed its short-term foreign and local
currency sovereign credit ratings at 'B'. The stable outlook
reflects S&P's expectation that the government will remain
committed to prudent fiscal policies and reducing debt, as well as
supportive economic policies including a flexible exchange rate
regime and effective monetary policy.
In March 2022, Fitch Ratings affirmed Jamaica's Long-Term Foreign
Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'B+'. The Rating Outlook is
Stable.
===============
X X X X X X X X
===============
LATAM: Countries Suffer High Inequality Levels
----------------------------------------------
Jamaica Observer reports that DeLisle Worrell, former Governor of
the Central Bank of Barbados, said that last month he drew
attention to the United Nations Development Programme's Human
Development Report. In the most recent edition of the report,
published in March, the Caribbean reported relatively high levels
of development, but improvements in the last decade were
disappointing in comparison to countries of similar size, according
to Jamaica Observer.
The 2023-2024 Human Development Report also provides information on
the impact of inequalities within each country for which
information is available, the report notes.
The report provides a table which shows how much better the average
person lives in societies in which most of the population is in the
middle-income group, compared to countries with a few very rich and
a majority of the poor and very poor, Jamaica Observer discloses.
Table 3 of the annex of the report adjusts the country's score to
account for inequalities in the distribution of income and
differences in life expectancy and educational achievement between
the rich and poor, Jamaica Observer says.
There is some inequality everywhere, and the Human Development
Index score falls for every country when the effects of inequality
are factored in, Jamaica Observer relays. However, the countries
of Central America and the Caribbean suffer very large inequality
losses not only when compared with advanced countries like the US
and UK but also compared to other small islands and developing
countries, Jamaica Observer notes.
The inequality-adjusted index for Canada, the UK, and the US are
between eight per cent and 11 per cent lower than before
adjustment, the report relays. Iceland, a small island economy
that is one of the world's most developed countries, recorded a
loss of only five per cent in its adjusted index, Jamaica Observer
discloses. The loss for Seychelles, a small Indian Ocean
archipelago, is 11 per cent, about the same as for the US. Fiji, in
the Pacific Ocean, suffers a 13 per cent loss in development as a
result of inequality, Jamaica Observer notes.
The losses from inequality suffered by Central American and
Caribbean countries are all much larger, the report relays. The
losses in the adjusted index for Jamaica and the Dominican
Republic, at 17 and 18 percent respectively, were the least costly
for the region, in terms of the development impact, the report
notes.
Three other countries, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and The Bahamas,
recorded losses of about 19 per cent in their inequality-adjusted
index, the report discloses. Panama, Honduras, Barbados,
Nicaragua, and St Lucia all saw inequality-adjusted indexes that
were over 20 per cent lower than before adjustment, the report
relays. Of the countries in the Central American and Caribbean
region for which data was reported, the impact of inequality was
largest for Guatemala at 28 per cent, Jamaica Observer notes.
Central American and Caribbean countries may improve the quality of
life of their citizens by taking measures to lift a larger
percentage into the middle class and by improving health and
education access for those of lower income, the report relays.
They should aim to ensure that the life expectancy of the poor
rises to equal the national average and that children from all
income groups are able to complete their primary and secondary
education, the report notes. Governments can then use the
Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index to track their success
in achieving a better quality of life for a majority of the
population, thereby making best use of increases in the national
income to further national development, the report adds.
LATAM: Tax Revenue Rose due to Higher Prices for Oil and Gas
------------------------------------------------------------
Jamaica Observer reports that tax revenue rose as a share of gross
domestic product (GDP) on average across Latin America and the
Caribbean (LAC) countries between 2021 and 2022, due partly to a
sharp increase in revenue from the oil and gas sector.
The new report, titled Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the
Caribbean 2024, was released at the 36th Regional Fiscal Seminar,
according to Jamaica Observer.
It is a joint publication by Inter-American Center of Tax
Administrations (CIAT), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB),
United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (UN-ECLAC), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, and
OECD Development Centre, the report notes.
The report showed that the average tax-to-GDP ratio in the region
rose by 0.3 percentage points in 2022 to 21.5 per cent, Jamaica
Observer relays.
This was slightly below its level prior to the COVID-19 pandemic
when, in 2019, it was 21.6 per cent and below the average
tax-to-GDP ratio for Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) countries, estimated at 34.0 per cent of GDP,
Jamaica Observer discloses.
The report notes that tax-to-GDP ratios in the LAC region ranged
from 10.6 per cent in Guyana to 33.3 per cent in Brazil in 2022,
Jamaica Observer says.
The tax-to-GDP ratio rose in 20 countries in the region between
2021 and 2022 and declined in six countries, the report notes. The
largest increases were observed in Chile, up 1.7 percentage points
from the previous year; The Bahamas, 1.6 percentage points; and
Ecuador, 1.5 percentage points, the report says.
The largest decrease of 6.3 percentage points occurred in Guyana,
which was one of four Caribbean countries in the report where the
increase in tax revenue was outpaced by GDP growth, causing the
tax-to-GDP ratio to decline, the report relays.
The increase in Latin America and the Caribbean's average
tax-to-GDP ratio in 2022 was driven by revenue from corporate
income tax (CIT), which rose by 0.6 percentage points from the
previous year, the report discloses.
The increase in CIT was particularly strong among the 10 major
hydrocarbon producers included in the report which benefited from
higher profits derived from a surge in oil and gas prices in 2021
and 2022, according to the report.
Hydrocarbon-related tax and non-tax revenue in major oil and gas
producers rose to 4.4 per cent of GDP on average in 2022, from 2.6
per cent of GDP in 2021, before declining to an estimated 3.9 per
cent of GDP in 2023 as oil and gas prices trended down, the report
relays.
Revenue from minerals rose to 0.75 per cent of GDP in 2022 before
declining to an estimated 0.5 per cent of GDP in 2023, the report
discloses. Revenue from other tax types were either unchanged or
declined as a share of GDP on average across the region in 2022,
the report notes.
Notably, revenue from taxes on goods and services declined by 0.3
percentage points on average due to a fall in revenue from excises
amounting to 0.4 percentage points, caused partly by tax measures
to mitigate the impact of high energy prices, the report relays.
In 2022 taxes on goods and services generated almost half of total
tax revenue in the region, compared with less than a third in the
OECD (31.9 per cent in 2021), the report discloses. On average,
CIT and personal income tax accounted for 18.8 per cent and 9.2 per
cent, respectively, of total tax revenue, compared with 10.2 per
cent and 23.7 per cent in the OECD, the report adds.
*********
S U B S C R I P T I O N I N F O R M A T I O N
Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America is a daily newsletter
co-published by Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Fairless
Hills, Pennsylvania, USA, and Beard Group, Inc., Washington, D.C.,
USA, Marites O. Claro, Joy A. Agravante, Rousel Elaine T.
Fernandez, Julie Anne L. Toledo, Ivy B. Magdadaro, and Peter A.
Chapman, Editors.
Copyright 2024. All rights reserved. ISSN 1529-2746.
This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or
publication in any form (including e-mail forwarding, electronic
re-mailing and photocopying) is strictly prohibited without prior
written permission of the publishers.
Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to
be reliable, but is not guaranteed.
The TCR Latin America subscription rate is US$775 per half-year,
delivered via e-mail. Additional e-mail subscriptions for members
of the same firm for the term of the initial subscription or
balance thereof are US$25 each. For subscription information,
contact Peter A. Chapman at 215-945-7000.
.
* * * End of Transmission * * *