Latin America’s Fiscal Frontier. The 2025 edition of Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean reveals a continued rebound in public revenues across the region following the COVID-19 shock. However, despite broad improvements, the region’s tax-to-GDP ratios remain far below OECD levels, and wide disparities between countries point to persistent structural weaknesses.

The Global EV Outlook 2025 published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) confirms what market watchers have long anticipated: the electric vehicle revolution is no longer a question of if, but how fast and where next. With global EV sales surpassing 17 million units in 2024 and projected to exceed 20 million in 2025, the report marks a pivotal moment for the automotive sector, with notable implications for emerging markets like Latin America.

Key Outcomes of the Recent Brazil-China Meeting. Last week, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited Beijing for a high-level summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The meeting marked a major milestone in bilateral relations, resulting in a wave of new agreements and investment commitments designed to shape cooperation for the next five decades.

Latin America Doubles Down on Electric Vehicles, Powered by Chinese Imports and Local Policy Push. Electric vehicle adoption in Latin America is (late, but fast) taking off. While still a small share of the global EV market, the region saw sales volumes and market shares more than double in 2024. This growth was fueled by a combination of favorable import policies, rising fuel prices, and affordable Chinese models.

Chile has become a proving ground for climate finance innovation, launching the first transaction to use monetized emissions reductions from early coal plant closure to lower the cost of capital for renewable energy. This landmark pilot, led by IDB Invest and energy utility Engie Energía Chile (EECL), demonstrates how a pay-for-success blended finance model can align corporate, national, and climate goals in emerging markets.

Chile Pilots New Model for Coal Exit with Carbon-Linked Finance. Chile is setting a precedent for emerging markets with a first-of-its-kind financial instrument that links early coal plant retirement to concessional borrowing costs. In partnership with IDB Invest and Engie, the country closed two coal plants nearly two years ahead of schedule, replacing them with a 151MW wind farm in Calama, and creating a blueprint for future transition finance.

Latin America’s largest investment bank, BTG Pactual, is making a bold push to become a global commodities powerhouse, positioning Brazil as a central pillar of global food security. Chairman André Esteves believes Brazil could supply 80% of the world’s additional food demand over the next two decades, and he wants BTG to be at the heart of that transformation.

Latest Economic Projections for Latin America: IMF vs. World Bank. IMF ProjectionsThe IMF now forecasts GDP growth in Latin America and the Caribbean will slow to 2.0% in 2025, down from 2.4% in 2024 and below its January forecast of 2.5%.The main reason for this downgrade is a projected contraction in Mexico’s economy, which

Despite commanding some of the world’s largest reserves of oil, gas, lithium, and copper, Latin America’s sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) remain small, traditional, and underleveraged. While Africa and Asia have embraced sovereign funds as engines of growth and innovation, Latin America's 12 SWFs are overwhelmingly stabilization funds, designed to smooth fiscal shocks but not to invest in the future.