Negotiable certificates of deposit, a new investment tool that was authorized in El Salvador, generates expectations because it promises to improve the yield of savings and may be processed with no need to register it in an agency.
The Standards Committee of the Central Reserve Bank (BCR) authorized on February 2, 2021 the new investment tool called negotiable certificates of deposit (CDN).
In the first eight months of this year, transactions registered on the Nicaraguan Stock Exchange totaled $421 million, 122% more than reported for the same period in 2019.
According to figures from the Nicaraguan Stock Exchange (BDVN), between January and August 2019 and the same period in 2020, the amount of transactions in the stock market increased by $231 million, from $190 million to $421 million.
CABEI approved a line of credit for the Salvadoran government to finance health care programs focused on mitigating the covid-19 outbreak and plans to reactivate the local economy.
Supporting macroeconomic stability, assisted by the Fiscal Responsibility Law, and strengthening the capacity to respond to the pandemic, through the programs that the government has implemented in response to the emergency, are two of the objectives that the loan approval is intended to fulfill.
In an auction process in which more than 200 investors from different parts of the world participated, the bank placed the debt at a rate of 2.5% for a 10-year term.
This transaction is the first international bond issue in the capital markets of Banco Nacional in its almost 116 years of existence and represents the largest issue that any Panamanian financial institution has made.
The country issued $500 million in the international market with a 12-year term, at a rate of 5.37%, and $700 million in the 30-year term, at an interest rate of 6.13%.
The operation was carried out through the Bank of America (BOFA), one of the most important investment banks in the world, chosen through a competitive process, informed the Public Finance Ministry (Minfin).
The impact of the coronavirus crisis on the financial sector in Central America is expected to be felt mainly in services related to stock brokerage and investment advice, where a drop is expected.
The "Information System for the Impact Analysis of Covid-19 on Business", prepared by the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData, measures the degree of impact that the crisis will have on companies according to their sector or economic activity, during the coming months.
The Óptima financial group bought the shares of Financiera Solidaria S.A., a transaction that amounted to $50 million.
Directors of Óptima reported that Financiera Solidaria S.A. (Finsol) has been in the Honduran market for 21 years and that this acquisition is part of its strategy to regionalize the financial company in the micro and small business segments.
In Costa Rica, a law initiative under discussion seeks to set caps on interest rates on loans, a measure that could lead to a reduction in the offer of credit for debtors classified as higher risk.
As part of a bill being discussed in the Legislative Assembly, the heads of the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR) and the General Superintendence of Financial Entities (Sugef) were asked to give their views on the content of the proposal.
Arguing that the country's situation is complex and that the need for greater liquidity to meet its immediate responsibilities has had consequences on its funding sources, Factoring S.A. announced its exit from the local stock market.
Managers of the financial institution reported that the company began operations in 1998 and in 2011 was authorized by the Superintendence of Banks and Other Financial Institutions (Siboif), to make issues in the stock market.
Because the Debt/GDP ratio increased from 69.4% to 70.7% between 2018 and 2019, Fitch forecasts that, in the absence of additional fiscal adjustment, the debt burden will continue to grow in the coming years.
A political stalemate leading to the failure of the 2020 budget proposal and the approval of the necessary external financing could lead to pressure on El Salvador's rating (B- / Stable), informed the risk rating agency.
The authorities that will assume the government in 2020 in Guatemala could evaluate options to tax temporarily some sectors, however, there would be a risk that these taxes become permanent.
At the end of the fifth month of 2019, Nicaragua's public external debt reached $6,011 million, which represents a $61 million increase over what was reported in December 2018.
From the Central Bank of Nicaragua statement:
According to these statistics, the balance of the public external debt up to May 31, 2019 was of 6,011.0 million dollars, which represented a 6.7-million-dollar decrease regarding the balance registered in the previous month (US$6,017.7 million). Compared to the balance up to December 2018 (US$5,949.6 million), this represented a 61.4-million-dollar increase, as a result of disbursements of external loans to the month of May in 149 million dollars, mainly from multilateral institutions (US$125.6 million), and principal payments of contracted debt for 74.3 million dollars.
At the end of the fourth month of 2019, the public external debt reached $6,018 million, which represents a $68 million increase with respect to what was reported in December 2018.
From the Central Bank of Nicaragua report:
According to these statistics, the balance of the public external debt was 6,017.7 million dollars to April 30, 2019, which represented a net increase of 30.1 million dollars regarding the balance registered in the previous month (US$5,987.6 million) and of 68.1 million dollars regarding December 2018 (US$5,949.6 million).
The deficit of the Central Government's Total Balance up to March 2019 is $1.267 million, 1.8% of GDP, above the 1.4% recorded at the end of the first quarter of 2018.
Total revenues with fiscal documents of the Central Government up to March 2019, totaled $1,618 million, with a 7.1% decrease with respect to March 2018, explains a report of the Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The change from stable to negative in the classification perspective of foreign currency debt would not have, at least in the medium term, significant effects on the Guatemalan financial system.
On April 11, 2019 Fitch Ratings ratified the long-term foreign currency default rating of "BB", but changed the outlook from stable to negative.
The rating agency argued that the revision of the Negative Perspective of Guatemala's debt rating reflects political tension and greater uncertainty in the agents, in addition to a constant erosion in the low tax collection.
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