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Latin America Currencies Fall, James Bond in Mexico
LatAm currencies depreciate, James Bond in Mexico, supply chain resilience, Dominican baseball players, Venezuela toilet paper crisis.
BY LATINVEX STAFF
Latin American currencies depreciated an average of 4.1 percent against the US dollar in the first quarter, according to a Latinvex analysis of data from XE currency converter.
Of 13 Latin American currencies analyzed, 11 depreciated, while only two appreciated.
Brazil and Colombia lead the way in depreciations. The Brazilian real depreciated 19.5 percent to 3.18 per US dollar, while Colombia’s peso depreciated 9.3 percent to 2,597 per US dollar.
Peru’s sol saw the third-largest
depreciation, with a 6.7 percent depreciation to 3.1 per US dollar.
Mexico’s peso depreciated 3.4 percent to 15.24 per US dollar, which was under
the Latin American average.
Costa Rica and Bolivia were the only two countries that saw their currency appreciate
in the first quarter. The Costa Rican colon appreciated 1.2 percent to 533.16
per US dollar, while the Bolivian Boliviano appreciated 0.14 percent to 6.9 per
US dollar.
|
Latin America: Weaker Currencies | ||||||
|
Latin American currencies per 1 US dollar | ||||||
|
Country |
Currency |
4Q14 |
1Q15 |
D/A | ||
|
Brazil |
BRL |
2.66 |
3.18 |
-19.50% | ||
|
Colombia |
COP |
2,376 |
2,597 |
-9.30% | ||
|
Peru |
PEN |
2.98 |
3.1 |
-6.70% | ||
|
Uruguay |
UYU |
24.31 |
25.67 |
-5.59% | ||
|
Argentina |
ARS |
8.47 |
8.82 |
-4.10% | ||
|
Mexico |
MXN |
14.74 |
15.24 |
-3.40% | ||
|
Chile |
CLP |
605.66 |
624.41 |
-3.10% | ||
|
Honduras |
HNL |
21.02 |
21.35 |
-1.57% | ||
|
Nicaragua |
NIO |
26.6 |
26.92 |
-1.20% | ||
|
Dom. Rep. |
DOP |
44.3 |
44.71 |
-0.93% | ||
|
Guatemala |
GTQ |
7.6 |
7.65 |
-0.66% | ||
|
Bolivia |
BOB |
6.91 |
6.9 |
0.14% | ||
|
Costa Rica |
CRC |
539.34 |
533.16 |
1.15% | ||
|
Average |
-4.21% | |||||
|
D/A=Depreciation (decrease), appreciation (increase) compared with US dollar | ||||||
|
Ecuador, El Salvador and Panama have dollar as legal tender. | ||||||
|
Venezuela not included as it has separate exchange rates for different sectors. | ||||||
|
Sources: XE (rates), Latinvex (changes) | ||||||
JAMES BOND IN MEXICO CITY
Producers of the latest James Bond movie have been filming in Mexico City. After initial complaints that businesses were hurt by the filming, city officials revealed that producers agreed beforehand to pay 225 businesses up to $2,500 a day in compensation for closures, and most of those had to shut down only for a few hours. Meanwhile, Hotel occupancy in the historic center rose 30 percent during the filming and the number of visitors to the district was up 53 percent, AP reports.
The film’s producers were offered $20
million in tax incentives to film in the country, The Guardian reports. (See
also Governments Boost LatAm Film Production).
SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE
Costa Rica is Latin America’s best country and Venezuela worst when it comes to resilience to supply chain disruption, according to the latest FM Global Resilience Index from FM Global.
The index is designed to help executives evaluate and
manage supply chain risk and is based on nine key drivers of supply chain risk
that are grouped into three categories: economic, risk quality and supply chain
factors.
|
Supply Chain Resilience: Best & Worst | |||
|
LA Rk |
Gl Rk |
Country |
Score |
|
1 |
38 |
Costa Rica |
58.1 |
|
2 |
41 |
Uruguay |
56.5 |
|
3 |
45 |
Chile |
54.7 |
|
4 |
59 |
Brazil |
47.8 |
|
5 |
66 |
Mexico |
44.8 |
|
6 |
73 |
Peru |
41.5 |
|
7 |
77 |
Argentina |
40.7 |
|
8 |
91 |
Panama |
36.1 |
|
9 |
92 |
El Salvador |
36.1 |
|
10 |
93 |
Guatemala |
35.9 |
|
11 |
97 |
Ecuador |
35 |
|
12 |
103 |
Bolivia |
33.3 |
|
13 |
105 |
Paraguay |
32.8 |
|
14 |
110 |
Colombia |
30.6 |
|
15 |
125 |
Honduras |
21.7 |
|
16 |
126 |
Dom. Rep. |
19 |
|
17 |
127 |
Nicaragua |
18.8 |
|
18 |
130 |
Venezuela |
0 |
|
Sources: FM Global; Latinvex (LatAm overview) | |||
DOMINICAN STARS
The total wages of Dominican players in the US Major League Baseball franchise this year is $423 million, according to Diario Libre.
The Dominican Republic now has 82 players in the US Major League Baseball franchise, by far the largest number of any other foreign nationality, according to Dominican media.
BRING YOUR OWN TOILET PAPER
The toilet paper crisis in Venezuela is widely known, but now it’s so serious that even hotels have run out, Fusion reports.
© Copyright Latinvex
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