• Esteban Ferro, Ecuador's deputy finance minister, said on Wednesday the nation still faces a $3.5 billion financing gap as its struggles to cope with the overwhelming cost of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
• In a video conference open to the public, he said the shock of not only the pandemic but also the sharp drop in oil prices that slammed the economy prompted a call for "the support of our creditors to address this crisis to help Ecuador back onto a path of growth and development."
• Gross financing needs widened in 2020 to $13.5 billion from $5.6 billion, and financing gaps are expected to remain high in the coming years.

(Source:  Latinfinance)

• The value of exports from Latin America fell 3.2% in the first quarter this year as the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated a downward trend that started in early 2019 , the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) said in a report published on Wednesday.
• The IDB analyzed trade in 15 countries in Latin America and found that a slump in global demand led to lower prices and a 1.2% drop in export volumes in the region.
• The value of exports from South America dropped 7.6% year-on-year in the first quarter this year, while exports from Mexico slipped 0.6% as the pandemic reached the United States, their main market. Exports from Central America, however, rose 9.1% in the first quarter, led by increases of 16.9% in Guatemala and 9.4% in Costa Rica.

(Source: Latin finance)

• Employment stunningly rose by 2.5 million in May and the jobless rate declined to 13.3% according to data Friday from the Labor Department that was far better than economists had been expecting and indicated that an economic turnaround could be close at hand.
• Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting payrolls to drop by 8.333 million and the unemployment rate to rise to 19.5% from April’s 14.7%. The May gain was by far the biggest one-month jobs gain in U.S. history since at least 1939.

 (Source: CNBC)

• U.S productivity fell at a 0.9% rate in the first three months of this year, a smaller decline than first estimated, while labor costs rose at a slightly faster pace.
• The Labor Department reported Thursday that the first-quarter decline in productivity was smaller than the initial estimate a month ago of a 2.5% drop. Labor costs rose at a 5.1% rate, slightly faster than the 4.8% increase first reported.
• Productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, has lagged over the past decade, a troubling development that economists have been unable to adequately explain. Productivity is the key to rising living standards, and the slow pace of growth in recent years has been a major reason that wage gains have lagged.

 (Source: CNBC)

• Consolidated Bakeries (Jamaica) Ltd. (Purity) reported audited net loss of $12.49Mn (EPS: -6¢) for the year ended December 31, 2019, an almost two-fold decline when compared to the $12.96Mn profit made in the corresponding period in 2018.
• This performance was mainly driven by a 14.3% (or $48.76Mn) increase in total operating expenses.
• Purity stock price has fallen 1.2% since the start of the calendar year, and closed Wednesday’s trading session at $1.64.  The stock currently trades at a P/B of 0.51x, which is below the Junior Market Manufacturing Sector Average of 2.06x.

(Source: Purity Financials)

• For the three months ended March 31, 2020, Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) Limited reported unaudited net profit of $43.80Mn (EPS:18¢), down 23.9% (or $13.73Mn) relative to the same period one year prior.
• The main contributor to this performance was an 11.4% (or $8.81Mn) increase in administrative and general expenses, and a 433.2% (or $1.51Mn) increase in FX losses.  In additon, for the period the company reported a $1.26Mn impairment loss on financial assets compared with a  $55k gain made in the prior year.
• The stock has fallen by 42.9% since the beginning of the calendar year. SOS closed Wednesday’s trading session at $6.30 and currently trades at a P/E of 12.9x earnings, which is below the Junior Market Distribution Sector Average of 17.3x earnings.

(Source: SOS Financials)

• The Executive Board of IMF concluded the third review of the IMF’s extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Barbados. The completion of the review allows the authorities to draw about US$139 million.
• Program implementation is strong, with all performance criteria for end-March met.
• The economy faces a major challenge owing to the global coronavirus pandemic. Access under the extended arrangement has been augmented by about US$91 million (70 percent of Barbados’ quota in the IMF) to help accommodate the shock.
• Since May 2018, international reserves have increased from a low of US$220 million to more than US$850 million at end-April 2020.

(Source: IMF)

• Brazil's central bank could lower the benchmark Selic interest rate below a previously expected floor of 2.25% to help lessen the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy, a bank official said on Wednesday.
• At its last meeting in May, the central banks' monetary policy committee, or Copom, cut the Selic by 75 basis points to a record low of 3% in May and suggested it could lower it by the same amount in June and hold it there through the end of the year.
• A pressing concern, according to Kanczuk, is Brazil's mounting public debt, which could rise to more than 90% of GDP before starting to decline in the future. Brazil's national debt reached a record high of 79.7% of GDP in April, according to figures released by the central bank in late May.

(Source: Latinfinance)

• The Bank of Canada held its key overnight interest rate steady as expected on Wednesday and said that data shows the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy appears to have peaked, though uncertainty remains.
• The central bank held its rate at 0.25% in a decision made on the same day new governor Tiff Macklem took helm.

(Source: Reuters)

• The European Central Bank (ECB) announced Thursday that it will increase its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme (PEPP) by 600 billion euros ($672 billion), as it attempts to bolster the region’s economy following the coronavirus crisis.
• The amount comes on top of 750 billion euros of government bond purchases that the ECB announced in March, taking the total to 1.35 trillion euros. The central bank also said Thursday that the duration of its crisis bond-buying program would be extended from the end of 2020 until June 2021, or until the bank believes the crisis is over.

(Source: CNBC)