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With the start of the filling the lower set of Agua Clara locks on the Atlantic part of the Expansion, Panama gets closer to the completion of the project of Panama Canal, surpassing the most difficult part.
Roberto Roy, the Minister of Canal Affairs, announced that this new milestone bring the project to 90% of its construction process.
Juan Carlos Varela, the President of Panama, invited European nations to invest in Panama and set a higher level of technical cooperation in development of infrastructure and security of the Republic.
All ambassadors in Panama in Europe were instructed to present investment opportunities during the Summit of the E.U. and Latin American and Caribbean community in Brussels.
Varela also noted that the country has recently launched the Five-Year public investment plan with the total budget of over $20 billion, which present significant opportunities for many European companies.
The president made an announcement during his official visit to Europe where he traveled in the company of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Trade and Commerce and the presidential adviser.
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Alberto Alesi, Panama executive of Manpower Group, explained the results of the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey for the third quarter of 2015, which indicate that the Net Employment Outlook for Panama is 13% positive; however, it presents a moderate decrease of five percentage points in quarterly comparison and six percentage points in annual comparison.
The survey was posted on Tuesday June 9; Alesi revealed that the strongest hiring forecasts are reported in the Western region, where it is expected a Net Employment Outlook of 19%; the weaker regional expectation of 1% is reported in the colon region.
Five years ago, Guido Mantega, then the Brazilian finance minister, warned that the United States seemed to have embarked on an international currency war. Many shared his opinion: when the Federal Reserve introduced its policies of quantitative easing, it weakened the dollar to such an extent that it sparked numerous complaints from emerging markets. Indeed, so much money flooded into countries such as Brazil – and other emerging market destinations – that some governments introduced macro-prudential measures to keep those capital inflows under control.
How times change. These days, investors around the world are once again worrying about foreign exchange volatility. They are also braced for potential upheavals in the world of monetary policy-making. But it’s not the prospect of a weakening dollar and super-loose US interest rate policy that’s causing alarm. In fact, it’s quite the reverse: with the Federal Reserve having signalled that it hopes to raise rates soon, there is growing unease about what a sudden rise in US interest rates might do to emerging markets.
After all, these days capital is no longer flooding into Latin America as it was before; instead, as optimism grows about the strength of the US economy, money has rushed out of places such as Brazil. And that has prompted the Brazilian real to tumble in value by 30% against the dollar in the past year, with significant falls among other Latin American currencies too.
Throwing a super taper tantrum
This poses a host of policy challenges and questions for Latin America. One is how the finance ministries and central banks in the region will cope with the prospect of higher interest rates in the United States. The International Monetary Fund has warned in recent weeks that any move by the Fed could spark a so-called “super taper tantrum” – or a spell of market volatility for emerging market assets that would be even worse than the “taper tantrum” that occurred a year ago when the Fed first started discussing a “tapered” end to its policies.
Some optimists hope this “super taper tantrum” could yet be avoided, if the Fed signals its intentions in advance. Others also hope that Latin America will be better placed than most other emerging markets to weather the storm. But history shows that periods of market volatility have a nasty habit of exposing policy weaknesses.
And what makes any potential “taper tantrum” particularly challenging for policy-makers – and potentially contagious – is that the structure of the financial markets today could amplify any shocks. Most notably, the level of liquidity for trading emerging market assets, such as corporate bonds, has shrivelled dramatically since 2008, when Western broker-dealers were forced to reduce their market-making activities to cope with tougher regulations. This means that any sudden sell-off could potentially cause indiscriminately wild price swings – at least for a period – which could undermine investor confidence.
Too slow to reform
A second big question that hangs over the region, however, is the nature of domestic policies. In the past decade, Latin America was widely praised for the extent of its structural reforms; indeed, one of the key reasons why international investment flows were flooding into the area back in 2010 was that the economies seemed to be posting sustainable growth. However, these days there is rising scepticism about the speed and depth of reforms in countries such as Brazil. Most notably, as the International Monetary Fund has pointed out in recent reports, the pace of structural change appears to have slowed sharply.
In truth, investors were willing to overlook this policy backsliding when the markets were calm – and the region was benefiting from a demand boost from the Chinese economy. But these days, a slowdown in Chinese growth is clearly under way, and the investor mood is becoming less forgiving. In other words, the year to come could be distinctly challenging for some Latin American governments, if they make policy missteps. The key question, then, is whether they have learnt the right lessons from the past – and can make themselves resilient enough to withstand shocks if (or when) the Fed finally acts.
By: World Economic Forum
Banco Universal has 11 branches
Felipe "Pipo" Virzi, who is under investigation for money laundering, is a major shareholder.
The Superintendency of Banks suspended operations Friday.
The Superintendency of Banks issued an order suspending the bank's operations and appointed an interim administrator
The move was made citing "fragile financial weakness," "weak risk management" and "inadequate internal controls."
In December 2014, the superintendency restricted the bank from performing certain duties due to its concentration of loans to companies linked to the Virzi family. It detected violations of that provision when it investigated the transactions that were in violation of the prosecutor's order.
The superintendency has appointed Jaime Gamboa to analyze and determine in detail the financial reality of the Bank.
Superintendency Secretary Gustavo Villa said that it appears to have the liquidity to meet the obligations to depositors, as it has $56 million in liquid assets.
issued
At 10:45 a.m. on May 28, Banco Universa received an order from the third anti-corruption prosecutor ordering the freezing of some 40 accounts linked to shareholder Felipe "Pipo" Virzi, who was being investigated for money laundering and other crimes.
That same day, at 12:05 p.m., $318,927 was transferred from one of the accounts that should have been frozen. Later, it issued two cashier's checks for about $2,000 each from the account.
Not following the prosecutor's order was the final straw for the financial institution, which has been under scrutiny for the past two years.
The Superintendency of Banks issued an order suspending the bank's operations and appointed an interim administrator.
- See more at: http://www.prensa.com/in_english/Banco-Universal_21_4226037355.html#sthash.9nL8iYyY.dpufAt 10:45 a.m. on May 28, Banco Universa received an order from the third anti-corruption prosecutor ordering the freezing of some 40 accounts linked to shareholder Felipe "Pipo" Virzi, who was being investigated for money laundering and other crimes.
That same day, at 12:05 p.m., $318,927 was transferred from one of the accounts that should have been frozen. Later, it issued two cashier's checks for about $2,000 each from the account.
Not following the prosecutor's order was the final straw for the financial institution, which has been under scrutiny for the past two years.
The Superintendency of Banks issued an order suspending the bank's operations and appointed an interim administrator.
- See more at: http://www.prensa.com/in_english/Banco-Universal_21_4226037355.html#sthash.9nL8iYyY.dpufAt 10:45 a.m. on May 28, Banco Universa received an order from the third anti-corruption prosecutor ordering the freezing of some 40 accounts linked to shareholder Felipe "Pipo" Virzi, who was being investigated for money laundering and other crimes.
That same day, at 12:05 p.m., $318,927 was transferred from one of the accounts that should have been frozen. Later, it issued two cashier's checks for about $2,000 each from the account.
Not following the prosecutor's order was the final straw for the financial institution, which has been under scrutiny for the past two years.
The Superintendency of Banks issued an order suspending the bank's operations and appointed an interim administrator.
Expandir Imagen Resolución de la Superintendencia de BancosThe move was made citing "fragile financial weakness," "weak risk management" and "inadequate internal controls."
In December 2014, the superintendency restricted the bank from performing certain duties due to its concentration of loans to companies linked to the Virzi family. It detected violations of that provision when it investigated the transactions that were in violation of the prosecutor's order.
The superintendency has appointed Jaime Gamboa to analyze and determine in detail the financial reality of the Bank.
Superintendency Secretary Gustavo Villa said that it appears to have the liquidity to meet the obligations to depositors, as it has $56 million in liquid assets.
- See more at: http://www.prensa.com/in_english/Banco-Universal_21_4226037355.html#sthash.9nL8iYyY.dpufAt 10:45 a.m. on May 28, Banco Universa received an order from the third anti-corruption prosecutor ordering the freezing of some 40 accounts linked to shareholder Felipe "Pipo" Virzi, who was being investigated for money laundering and other crimes.
That same day, at 12:05 p.m., $318,927 was transferred from one of the accounts that should have been frozen. Later, it issued two cashier's checks for about $2,000 each from the account.
Not following the prosecutor's order was the final straw for the financial institution, which has been under scrutiny for the past two years.
The Superintendency of Banks issued an order suspending the bank's operations and appointed an interim administrator.
Expandir Imagen Resolución de la Superintendencia de BancosThe move was made citing "fragile financial weakness," "weak risk management" and "inadequate internal controls."
In December 2014, the superintendency restricted the bank from performing certain duties due to its concentration of loans to companies linked to the Virzi family. It detected violations of that provision when it investigated the transactions that were in violation of the prosecutor's order.
The superintendency has appointed Jaime Gamboa to analyze and determine in detail the financial reality of the Bank.
Superintendency Secretary Gustavo Villa said that it appears to have the liquidity to meet the obligations to depositors, as it has $56 million in liquid assets.
- See more at: http://www.prensa.com/in_english/Banco-Universal_21_4226037355.html#sthash.9nL8iYyY.dpufIts currency, the bolivar, is literally worth less than a penny.
Just a month ago, $1 was worth 279 bolivars. That was already pretty dismal for Venezuela. Now $1 equals 408 bolivars, according to the unofficial exchange rate, which most Venezuelans get when they try to trade currency.
Put another way, one bolivar equals $0.002 -- less than a penny. The country's currency has lost nearly half its value since the beginning of May, according to dolartoday.com, a website that tracks the unofficial exchange rate.
It's another sign that Venezuela is arguably the world's worst economy. Venezuela primarily relies on oil exports to support its economy, which was already under pressure before oil prices tanked in the fall and winter.
The fallout: Socialist President Nicolas Maduro has touted the Bolivarian Revolution, started by his deceased predecessor Hugo Chavez, as a successful movement. The goal is to equally distribute wealth among all the country's people. Maduro has continued massive public spending programs to appeal to the country's poor.
But the bolivar's implosion has only created more inequality. There's a growing divide between Venezuelans who can pay to exchange bolivars for dollars and those who can't. The gap is most glaring at the local grocery store.
The government imports many consumer goods -- like toilet paper, beef and shampoo -- but it can't pay for these goods anymore. Venezuelans wait for hours outside grocery stores, hoping they can get basic items like milk and flour.
Maduro's government now barters in its trade deals. Uruguay pays Venezuela in beef for some of the Venezuelan oil it buys. In February, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago offered to exchange toilet paper for Venezuelan oil. Venezuelan officials declined to comment on the offer, according to Bloomberg.
Here's a few other warning signs for Venezuela and its economy's future.
1. American companies are getting crushed in Venezuela. Lots of American companies do business in Venezuela, and they're losing hundreds of millions of dollars. Coke (COKE), American Airlines (AAL), IBM (IBM, Tech30) and even Disney (DIS) have said that they are exposed to losses due to Venezuela's currency.
The devalued currency is hurting their earnings. Oracle (ORCL, Tech30) lost $111 million in Venezuela in its last fiscal year. Ford (F) lost $800 million last year.
Maduro introduced the country's fourth -- not a typo -- exchange rate earlier this year. U.S. companies aren't even sure which exchange rate to use. If Pepsi (PEP) used one exchange rate, the SICAD, then it lost $160 million. But if Pepsi used the new exchange rate, the SIMADI:
"We would have incurred a net charge of approximately $480 million," Pepsi said in its earnings. Talk about an adjustment.
2. Obama slaps sanctions on Venezuelans. In March, President Obama announced stiff sanctions against seven high-ranking officials in the Venezuelan government and military. All their U.S. assets, including houses, cars and bank accounts, were either frozen or confiscated.
Maduro lambasted Obama, calling the sanctions an imperialist move. It created some tension at the Summit of the Americas in Panama in April, but Obama won over many fans with the renewed relations between the U.S. and Cuba.
3. Default in October? The grand finale to Venezuela's tumultuous 2015 could come in October.
The government owes about $5 billion in debt payments then, and there are few convincing signs that Maduro and his government can pay the bills. Venezuela could default on its debt in October, sending the country further into economic mire.
CNN Money
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