GlobalSource Partners | Country Insights

On September 30, the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) decided to raise its monetary policy rate by 25 basis points, from 5.25% to 5.50% per year. It also increased the one-day liquidity expansion facility rate to 6.00% and the overnight deposit rate to 4.75%.The Central Bank said its...

Open to close: Interministerial Commission opens the door to a negotiated restart of Cobre Panamá while key aspects remain uncertain

PANAMA · Report · 30 Sep 2026

Panama's Interministerial Commission has recommended that President José Raúl Mulino authorize formal negotiations with Cobre Panamá and its parent company, First Quantum Minerals (FQM), to assess the feasibility of a new agreement. That agreement would serve two purposes: settling the pending in...

Legitimacy abroad, impatience at home

VENEZUELA · Report · 30 Sep 2026

The UN General Assembly was the stage where Delcy Rodríguez introduced the world to her alliance with the Trump administration and, above all, to her first political manifesto. In language free of ideological markers, Rodríguez outlined a transition “from within,” led through existing institution...

Justice Fachin postponed the STF’s plenary discussion of the Our Lady of Aparecida case, new information involving Lulinha raises concerns, and the government continues to roll out measures that could impact the elections

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 30 Sep 2026

Supreme Federal Court (STF) President Justice Edson Fachin decided to postpone the Court’s plenary discussion of the fake news controversy involving Our Lady of Aparecida. The issue could have been heard today, but Fachin considered it more prudent to avoid taking up the matter just days before t...

Weathering the storms

CENTRAL AMERICA · Report · 29 Sep 2026

Economic activity in El Salvador is performing better than expected six months ago. The construction sector investment boom is lasting longer, and negative external factors are hitting more softly than expected. The usual belief that departure from democracy and movement towards authoritarianism ...

The latest poll reinforces the highly competitive scenario in a potential runoff, the issue regarding the patron saint of Brazil continues, and STF justices disagree on how to address this issue

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 29 Sep 2026

The Quaest poll on the presidential election released yesterday reinforces the highly competitive scenario in a hypothetical runoff between President Lula (PT) and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL). Both stand at 42%. Justice Flávio Dino has submitted to the full bench of the Supreme Federal Court (S...

Economics: Banxico holds the reference rate at 6.5% after the Fed raises its rate range

MEXICO · Report · 29 Sep 2026

Banxico held its reference rate at 6.5% for a third consecutive meeting, once again unanimously, following a cutting cycle that we consider to have been accelerated and that now leaves the central bank with little room to maneuver. Core inflation, sustained by resilient services prices, eight yea...

A tight first-round race ahead and other weekly topics

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 28 Sep 2026

This is the final week of campaigning before the first round of elections, which will take place next Sunday (October 4). Free election advertising on radio and television ends on Thursday (October 1). TV Globo will host the final debate among the presidential candidates. Flávio Bolsonaro has alr...

A brief comment on recent MNB talk

HUNGARY · In Brief · 28 Sep 2026

Last Tuesday (September 22), the Monetary Council halted its three-month long loosening 'mini-cycle', raised its inflation forecast for the next five quarters and reduced its medium-term inflation target to 2.5% from 3%, although the latter only from January 2028 (which matters very little in pra...

Chronicle of a fiasco foretold

BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 28 Sep 2026

The government’s new budget forecasts indicate that the fiscal framework rules should be met in 2026, with the help of a spending freeze. However, in recent years, this has only been possible because the government lowered the targets, expanded deductions and resorted to parafiscal measures. On t...

Politics: Electoral process—Morena goes all in, and the INE backs it up

MEXICO · Report · 28 Sep 2026

Mexico's 2027 electoral process, which formally began on September 10, is shaping up as far more than a routine midterm contest over 500 federal deputies, 17 governorships, and 1,800 mayoralties. For President Sheinbaum and Morena, the stakes are very high: preserving the qualified congressional ...

False information linked Flávio to an alleged proposal to strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as Patroness of Brazil, the first round of the election will be held on Sunday, and Flávio will participate in a debate on Thursday

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 28 Sep 2026

The spread of false information linking Senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro (PL-RJ) to an alleged proposal to strip Our Lady of Aparecida of her title as Patroness of Brazil generated nearly 1 million social media posts in less than three days, becoming the third-largest political...

Weekly Report - September 28, 2026: Growth moderates; wider Israel-US rate gap weighs on the shekel; Supreme Court review on Thursday

ISRAEL · Report · 28 Sep 2026

Activity data suggest that the economy continued to expand at the start of Q3, although at a more moderate pace, while strong credit growth points to continued resilience. Israeli high-tech fundraising also remained strong in Q3, reaching USD 3.6bn and reinforcing continued capital inflows. With ...

Four challenges ahead of the 2027 elections

ARGENTINA · Report · 28 Sep 2026

With 13 months to go before the next presidential election, in which the ruling party will seek reelection, and 11 months before the mandatory primary elections (PASO), President Javier Milei’s government faces four major challenges. The first is to meet its dollar financing needs without losing ...

Some thoughts on the Trump-Xi Summit

CHINA FINANCIAL · Report · 28 Sep 2026

Special points to highlight in this report: * The Trump-Xi summit can produce a temporary accommodation between Washington and Beijing, but the underlying conflict between the US and China is about both the very different roles they play in global imbalances and the very different forms of le...