The US presidential elections are big news not only in the US. Argentine economist Horacio Pozzo of Latinforme.com, a new Latin American investment site, says that although president Bush ignored Latin American during his two terms there’s a lot at stake this time around…

Paola Pecora says: “Facing increasing prices for petroleum and food that are generating inflationary pressures, Colombia has taken the right step in deciding to reduce public expenditures. Additionally, there is very good news there regarding petroleum.”

Paola Pecora says: “Every crisis is an opportunity. Today, Uruguay exports some of the soy that Argentina doesn’t. And it produces soy that Argentine producers don’t want to produce, thanks to the brutal tax increases recently imposed on them by the their government. Argentines like Uruguay very much, and not only the Argentine tourists…”

Editor’s Note: Peru’s economic stability and its growth potential are generating solid investment opportunities and new investment instruments. Growing expectations for pension funds are good news for Peru’s capital markets.

Paola Pecora asks: “The inevitable moment arrived: higher inflation in Brazil continues rising dangerously, although it remains within the inflationary goals for the year… what can Brazil do regarding this matter?”

Paola Pecora says: ¨With such favorable external conditions prevailing, many in Argentina say that even a robot could have run the country successfully the last few years.  Latin America… is it doing well because of its leaders or because it is coasting on a good tailwind¨

¨The oil price hike is not only generating chaos in countries due to food riots but has also created transport strikes in Europe. There are shortages and even one death, ¨ says Paola Pecora.

Yesterday I wrote to you about the pessimism within the Argentine business community. However, Argentine businessmen are not the only ones in a bad mood… The Chilean businessmen are also more than a little bit worried about the situation the Chilean economy is going through.

These investments of foreign capital, so valued and hoped for by the economy, are generating problems for Colombia since they affect the type of change required to impact the competitiveness of the Colombian economy.