• Low approval ratings and Costa Rica’s poor economic outlook will constrain President Carlos Alvarado’s fiscal reform efforts.
• Furthermore, the polarising debate over same-sex marriage and other social issues will also contribute to political gridlock over the coming quarters.
• Fitch Solutions maintains it's Short Term Political Risk Index (STPRI) score of 64.9 out of 100, underlining a moderate risk of increased political protests limiting the Alvarado government's capacity to implement reforms.

(Source: Fitch)

• U.S President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that talks with China on the first phase of a trade deal were near completion after negotiators from both sides spoke by phone, signaling progress on the accord in the works for nearly two years. 
• “We’re in the final throes of a very important deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “It’s going very well.”  
• Negotiations have been complicated by strong support in the U.S. for pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong and China’s suspicions that the U.S. is feeding unrest in the territory. 
• Trump gave no indication about whether he would sign legislation Congress passed last week backing the protest movement in Hong Kong.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Governor, Richard Byles, says the sale of US$140Mn to the foreign exchange market has served to satisfy extraordinary currency demand, which surfaced in recent weeks. 
• The spike was related to the demand for portfolio transactions and seasonal restocking by retailers ahead of the Christmas period.
• Speaking at the BOJ’s quarterly briefing last Thursday, Mr. Byles said this spurred a 5.2% (J$7.07) depreciation in the value of the dollar between October 1 and November 12, “despite normal daily inflows”.
• Additionally, he said it reversed the 1.8% appreciation that occurred in September, “and erased the sense of normal two-way movement in the exchange rate that had been evident for an extended period prior to October 2019”.
• However, Mr. Byles said consequent on the BOJ’s sale of the US$140 million, via five BOJ Foreign Exchange Intervention and Trading Tool (B-FXITT) flash sale operations to authorized dealers and cambios, “we have observed that the exchange rate has adopted an appreciating trend since November 13”.

(Source: JIS)

• Dominican Republic’s consumer price index (CPI) registered a variation of 0.67% in October 2019 compared to September and the accumulated inflation in the January-October period stood at 3.06%.
• With this result, year-on-year inflation, measured from October 2018 to October 2019, stood at 2.48%, staying below the lower limit of the target range of 4.0% ± 1.0% established in the Monetary Program, indicates the Central Bank (BCRD).
• The group with the greatest contribution to the variation in the general CPI was Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, with an increase of 1.2%, accounting for approximately half of the month’s inflation. They are followed by Transportation, with an inflation of 0.8%, Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco (2.4%) and Housing (0.6%).

(Source: Dominican Today)

• For the year ended September 2019, Eppley Caribbean Property Fund reported an unaudited net profit of BBD$4.05Mn (EPS: $0.06), a full recovery from the BBD$739.33K loss (EPS: $-0.01) reported one year prior.
• The performance was attributable to total investment income which increased from BBD$612.54K in 2018 to BBD$7.16Mn in 2019. This was supported by a fair value gain of BBD$2.15Mn which is a reversal from the BBD$2.38Mn loss reported in the previous year. Furthermore, rental income increased 18.4% (or BBD$279.42Mn) to BBD$1.84Mn, year-on-year, while the share of profit from investments in joint ventures increased by 88.6% (or BBD$1.38Mn) to BBD$2.95Mn, year-on-year.
• The stock has declined by 20.7% since listing on the JSE, closing yesterday’s trading session at $36.62 per share. At this price, the stock currently trades at a discount of 33% to its September 30, 2019 book value per share. 

 (Source: Eppley Financials)

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• For the nine-month period ended July 31, 2019, The Limners and Bards (The LAB) Limited reported an increase in net profit of 17.3% to finish the period at $69.81Mn up from $59.51Mn for the corresponding period in 2018.
• Operating revenues increased by 24.3% (or $94.99Mn) which was the main contributor to the increased net profit. The growth in operating revenues can be attributed to increases in the company’s core business, production (up to $69.60Mn or 113.0%) and media (up to $30.20Mn or 15%).
• The stock has risen 202.0% since listing and closed yesterday’s trading session at $3.02. At this price the stock currently trades at a P/E of 33.33x which is above the Junior Market average of 29.30x.

(Source: LAB Financials)

• European Central Bank Executive Board member Sabine Lautenschlaeger became the latest policymaker to add her voice to those saying the time is not right to restart the bank’s quantitative-easing program.
• Yesterday Dutch Governor Klaas Knot said the outlook isn’t weak enough to resume buying bonds while Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has recently returned to type following his failure to be selected as next ECB head.
• The hawkish rhetoric ahead of the bank’s Sept. 12 meeting could be viewed as somewhat at odds with the data as today’s inflation figures showed price growth in the euro-area remains stuck at 1%, well below the ECB’s own target.

(Source: Bloomberg)

• A staff team of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), led by Alejandro Santos, visited Panama during July 17-23, 2019, on an invitation from the Panamanian authorities.
• Santos said, “while Panama remains among the most dynamic economies in Latin America, the economic recovery has been slower than anticipated. Real GDP grew at an annual rate of 3.1% in the first quarter of 2019 (compared to 4% in the same period of last year), due to a softening in construction and services.
• More recent data pointing to a continuation of a sluggish recovery, lead the IMF to revise down its growth projection for 2019 to 5% (from 6% estimated in the February visit).
• Panama’s fundamentals remain solid, with the economy expected to recover and converge to its potential growth of 5.5% by next year, and inflation edging up to 2% over the medium-term.
• Authorities also expect to reduce the fiscal deficit by over 2% of GDP in the next two years, allowing Panama to observe the deficit limit under the fiscal responsibility law of 1.75% of GDP by 2021.

(Source: IMF)