Search Results for: Venezuela

THE MARKET distorting economic policies of Venezuela’s government were supposed to help the country’s poor, but instead have created a boom in contraband smuggling into neighbouring Colombia, generating massive profits for organized crime, James Bargent reports.

CONTRABAND and smuggling permeate every aspect of economic life in the windswept Colombian border city of Cúcuta.…

A potential bonanza of new projects may be offered to Chinese construction companies following the set-up of a new development bank with lots of cash for infrastructure projects. This July marked the launch of the so-called ‘BRICS Bank’, a new multilateral development bank, operated by Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.…

Chinese construction firms have cornered plenty of business in Africa and Latin America, but they need upskilling to consolidate their position. Anyone who observes the queues of nervous young men lining up in the early morning in Beijing’s tree-lined Sanlitun diplomatic district will be in no doubt of the intensity of Chinese activity in Africa and Latin America.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) oil refining industry is looking at September as the time when the European Commission may propose a new way to implement the bloc’s fuel quality directive (FQD). This would break a deadlock of almost three years, with Brussels tabling its last proposed technical rules on how the 2009 law should work in October 2011.…

PRODUCTION at Venezuela state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) has slumped under mounting financial pressures, building during the past 15 years when revenues have been tapped by its socialist government to fund social programmes, diplomatic initiatives and other non-commercial policies.…

IN the 1970s and 1980s, the governments of Latin America and the Caribbean did not have a comprehensively robust reputation for sound financial management. Many Caribbean island states had newly emerged from colonialism, finding their way as independent countries. And many Latin American countries were riven by social discord, even civil war, with many under military rule.…

Latin America’s cosmetics and personal care products sector has boomed as consumers take advantage of their rising disposable incomes. The region (including Mexico) accounted for 17% of global sales in the beauty and personal care industry, according to market analysts Euromonitor International in 2013. …

Even during the desperate economic times currently afflicting Venezuela, quality personal care products remain vital to its consumers: “Beauty is part of the culture,” said Jean Clauteaux, president of L’Oréal’s Venezuela section. Unlike neighbouring markets, he said a key characteristic of Venezuelan consumers is their strong demand for high-end products.…

Food manufacturers based in Venezuela have long struggled to supply the country’s oil-fuelled economy amidst strict government controls and shortages of many key industry inputs. And recent changes to the country’s currency regime could – say analysts and business leaders – intensify existing problems in the industry.…

THE COUNTRIES of Latin America may have strong cultural links, but their politics and economies have always varied and this is still the case with the paint and coatings sector. Whilst the whole region has experienced rising incomes over the past decade, this growth has been far from even and is currently under threat – for instance in Venezuela and Argentina, where interventionist governments have impeded trade.…