• Brazil's government announced on Tuesday, April 11, it would end a tax exemption on international orders up to $50 as part of an effort to tax purchases from global retail giants.
• The revenue service said that the exemption never applied to e-commerce but only to shipments from individual to individual, and had been "widely and fraudulently used for sales made by foreign companies." Given this, there would no longer be any distinction in treatment between legal entities and individual shipments, with international orders subject to the existing 60% taxation on their value.
• The measure is expected to benefit local retailers and comes after widespread complaints from the sector about unfair competition from Asian giants such as AliExpress, Shein, and Shopee.
• Finance Minister Fernando Haddad had already stated that the government would soon unveil tax measures aimed at those who were not paying taxes to boost revenue and improve public accounts.
• Haddad emphasized that "one or two global players" were disguising their e-commerce as person-to-person shipments to avoid paying taxes. Combating this practice, which Haddad called "smuggling," is expected to generate between 7 billion and 8 billion reais in new revenue for the government.

(Source: Reuters)

• Guyana is on course to record economic growth of 37.2% by the end of this year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
• Driven by prudent fiscal management and growing sectors, including the burgeoning oil and gas sector, Guyana is set to record significant economic growth and persevere through global and domestic challenges.
• With several new projects ongoing, oil production will continue to vastly contribute to the advancement of Guyana’s economy, solidifying the economy’s foundation and enhancing the overall well-being and welfare of every Guyanese.
• Guyana is the only country within the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region expected to record double-digit growth this year and in the near future. The IMF reported that real gross domestic product (GDP) growth could be even higher next year, reaching 45.3% given oil production prospects.
• Consistent growth is expected in Guyana, even as the IMF reported that tentative signs in early 2023 that the world economy could achieve a soft landing (with inflation coming down and growth steady) have receded amid stubbornly high inflation and recent financial-sector turmoil.
• Despite the global situation, based on its economic performance over the past two years, Guyana has a solid foundation upon which to continue broadening its horizons and advancing significantly, especially given noteworthy oil production in the medium term.

(Source: IMF)

• A Chinese woman has become the first person to die from a type of bird flu that is rare in humans, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, but the strain does not appear to spread easily between people.
• The 56-year-old woman from the southern province of Guangdong was the third person known to have been infected with the H3N8 subtype of Avian Influenza. All of the cases have been in China, with the first two cases reported last year.
• The Guangdong Provincial Centre for Disease Control and Prevention reported this third infection late last month but did not provide details of the woman's death. The WHO stated that the patient had multiple underlying conditions, and a history of exposure to live poultry. Sporadic infections in people with bird flu are common in China where Avian flu viruses constantly circulate in huge poultry and wild bird populations.
• Samples collected from a wet market visited by the woman before she became ill were positive for influenza A(H3), said the WHO, suggesting this may have been the source of infection. Though rare in people, H3N8 is common in birds in which it shows little to no symptoms. It has also infected other mammals. There were no other cases found among close contacts of the infected woman, the WHO said.
• "Based on available information, it appears that this virus does not have the ability to spread easily from person to person, and therefore the risk of it spreading among humans at the national, regional, and international levels is considered to be low," the WHO said in the statement. Monitoring of all Avian Influenza viruses is considered important given their ability to evolve and cause a pandemic.

(Source: Reuters)

• U.S. Treasury yields fell Wednesday after the release of new inflation figures, as traders bet the Federal Reserve would halt rate increases sooner than expected. The 10-year Treasury note yield fell 3 basis points to 3.41%, while the 2-year Treasury rate slid 6 basis points to 4.0%.
• Minutes from the March Federal Open Market Committee meeting released Wednesday showed the central bank expects a recession this year on the turmoil in the banking sector stemming from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
• “Given their assessment of the potential economic effects of the recent banking-sector developments, the staff’s projection at the time of the March meeting included a mild recession starting later this year, with a recovery over the subsequent two years,” the meeting summary said.
• Meanwhile, the consumer price index rose 0.1% in March on a month-over-month basis. Economists expected an increase of 0.2%, according to Dow Jones. Year over year, the CPI rose 5% while economists had forecast a 5.1% advance. That year-over-year figure is also lower than the 6% jump seen in February. Core CPI, which strips out food and energy prices, rose 0.4% month over month.
• The Fed’s next interest rate decision in May is likely to be impacted by the fresh inflation figures. The central bank noted after its last meeting that a rate hike pause could be on the horizon if data showed sufficient signs that the economy is cooling.

(Source: CNBC)

• Jamaica Producers Group Limited (JP) and PanJam Investment Limited have announced the successful completion of the amalgamation process, which was approved by the shareholders of both companies on December 22, 2022. The amalgamation agreement between the two Jamaican conglomerates, saw JP transfer its material businesses to PanJam in exchange for JP receiving a 34.5% ownership stake in PanJam.
• The amalgamation creates a formidable player in the Jamaican investor landscape with diverse interests in real estate and infrastructure, specialty food and drink manufacturing, agri-business, financial services, and a global services network of interests in hotels and attractions, business process outsourcing, shipping, logistics, and port operations, in locations across the world. With effect from April 1, 2023, PanJam will change its name to Pan Jamaica Group and will hold the combined businesses.
• Jeffrey Hall, who was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Pan Jamaica Group on April 1, 2023, highlighted that the company is pleased to have completed the transaction which represents an important milestone for both companies. The newly appointed President of Pan Jamaica Group, Joanna Banks, had the same sentiments about the amalgamation.
• The amalgamation will see the two companies combining their strengths and expertise to capitalize on new opportunities whilst creating greater value for stakeholders.

(Source: JSE)                

• Fitch Solutions is forecasting that the Mexican budget deficit will widen modestly from 3.4% of GDP in 2022 to 3.8% in 2023. 
• Mexico is an unusual case in that the deficit barely widened in response to the COVID crisis (from 1.7% in 2019 to 2.8% in 2020), as President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) government refrained from rolling out significant income support schemes.
• Mexico’s fiscal position has, however, deteriorated somewhat, driven by a ramp-up in public investment, an uptick in debt servicing costs and a modest increase in social spending that largely reflects an increase in pension payments and the rollout of some cost of living support.
• Fitch, therefore, anticipates that these trends will remain in place ahead of elections scheduled for July 2024, with a decline in oil-related revenues set to exacerbate the deterioration.
• Owing to the widening budget deficit, Fitch also anticipates that Mexico’s debt-to-GDP ratio will increase modestly from 50.0% of GDP in 2022 to 50.6% in 2023, with strong nominal economic growth helping to prevent a larger jump.

(Source: Fitch Solutions)

• The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has announced that it has committed US$100 million in support to The Bahamas as the country charts a path to economic recovery and resilience following the back-to-back disasters of Hurricane Dorian and the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Bank’s Board of Directors approved the policy-based loan (PBL), the first in a proposed two-part series of PBLs, with a second tranche of US$25 million expected to be appraised in the 2023/24 fiscal year.
• CDB Director, Economics Department Ian Durant noted the programme of assistance will help the Bahamian economy to get back on track after the devastating impacts of Hurricane Dorian in 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
• “While The Bahamas was recovering from the impact of Dorian, the pandemic created an additional shock on the tourism-dependent economy of The Bahamas. These shocks led to an unprecedented crisis that inflicted severe costs on the economy and people of The Bahamas. Central Government indebtedness rose sharply, and policy momentum aimed at fiscal consolidation and unlocking higher medium-term growth was interrupted,” said Durant.
• Despite this, he said the Government has been “making credible efforts towards restoring fiscal sustainability by implementing measures to increase revenue and reduce expenditure to bring its fiscal responsibility framework back on track” and it was against this background that CDB was lending its support.
• The loan will provide support to the government as it undertakes a programme of policy, legislative, and institutional reforms aimed at strengthening fiscal discipline and boosting revenue mobilisation while safeguarding the vulnerable.

(Source: Eyewitness News)

• The International Monetary Fund trimmed its 2023 global growth outlook slightly as higher interest rates cool activity but warned that a severe flare-up of financial system turmoil could slash output to near recessionary levels.
• The IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook report that banking system contagion risks were contained by strong policy actions after the failures of two U.S. regional banks and the forced merger of Credit Suisse. However, the turmoil added another layer of uncertainty on top of stubbornly high inflation and spillovers from Russia's war in Ukraine.
• "With the recent increase in financial market volatility, the fog around the world economic outlook has thickened," the IMF said as it and the World Bank launch spring meetings this week in Washington. "Uncertainty is high and the balance of risks has shifted firmly to the downside so long as the financial sector remains unsettled," the Fund added.
• The IMF is now forecasting global real GDP growth at 2.8% for 2023 and 3.0% for 2024, marking a sharp slowdown from 3.4% growth in 2022 due to tighter monetary policy. Both the 2023 and 2024 forecasts were marked down by 10 basis points from estimates issued in January, partly due to weaker performances in some larger economies as well as expectations of further monetary tightening to battle persistent inflation.

(Source: Reuters)

• China is negotiating a compromise plan with other major creditors that could help break a logjam in debt-relief talks for struggling developing nations, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
• The Wall Street Journal said the new plan if agreed upon, could see China drop its demand for multilateral lenders such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to join it in taking losses in any debt-restructuring deals that have stood as an obstacle to reaching workouts for countries like Zambia and Ghana.
• Specifically, the new plan could help break an impasse that has held up an agreement between China and other government creditors to restructure the debts of Zambia. It will serve as a model for multibillion-dollar debt-relief deals for other developing countries in financial distress.
• Negotiations could then move on to the details of Zambia’s debt restructuring, such as extending repayment deadlines and lowering interest rates. China continues to oppose taking losses on the face value of its loans, people close to Beijing’s decision-making told the paper.

(Source: Reuters)

• In demonstratively supporting its strategic growth agenda, Future Energy Source Company Limited (FESCO) introduces its cooking gas brand FESGAS and advises that it has acquired the assets related to the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) business of Wilson Beck LPG Limited (WB). The transaction was completed on Wednesday, April 5, 2023. This asset purchase supports the advancement of FESCO’s goal of entering the cooking gas market under the FESGAS brand.
• FESCO’s Managing Director, Jeremy Barnes commenting on the acquisition highlighted that the assets acquired are appealing for many reasons, including the plant’s capacity and throughput.
• WB began distributing cooking gas in April 2020 from its business location in Bernard Lodge, St. Catherine and at the same location began its LPG filling plant operation in May 2021.
• According to WB’s Managing Director, Gregory Beck, the move will see FESCO inheriting a state-of-the-art LPG filling plant at Bernard Lodge, St. Catherine as well as a loyal group of gas dealers from the distribution network in south-eastern Jamaica. The plant will give FESCO the ability to immediately start supplying consumers and take advantage of the groundwork that has been completed over the last couple of years.
• FESCO will launch its LPG business within the first quarter of its next fiscal year (June 2023). This acquisition will bolster revenue growth as it allows the company to expand its value-added products and improve operational efficiency, which ultimately increases shareholders’ value. 

(Source: JSE)