• A slow economic recovery from the pandemic and limited government support for household incomes will drive elevated risks of social unrest in Guatemala in the quarters ahead.
• Fitch Solutions sees the potential for additional risks to social stability stemming from the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines as delays in distribution could slow the economic recovery or allow for another spike in cases.
• As a result, the agency maintained Guatemala’s score of 40.0 out of 100 in the social stability’ subcomponent of its Short-Term Political Risk Index.

(Source: Fitch Solutions)

• Federal Reserve policymakers believe it will likely "take some time" until the economy generates substantial growth that would allow the central bank to consider tightening monetary policy, according to the minutes of the central bank's last policy meeting released Wednesday.
• At the conclusion of its previous meeting on Jan. 27, the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed's rate-setting arm, kept its benchmark rate in a range of 0% to 0.25% and bond purchases at a $120Bn monthly pace.
• "The Committee's guidance for asset purchases indicated that asset purchases would continue at least at the current pace until substantial further progress toward its employment and inflation goals had been achieved," the Fed said in the minutes.
• The Fed's willingness to persist with the status quo of a lower-for-longer interest rate environment comes as the 10-2 Year Treasury yield spread curve, a gauge of the health of the economy, has widened to levels not seen since April 2017, on expectations for a speedier recovery and a pickup in inflation.

(Source: Yahoo Finance)

• British Finance Minister Rishi Sunak's annual budget on March 3 is set to have a green tinge, even as the country goes hundreds of billions of pounds into the red to fund its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Sunak will move forward with plans to launch Britain's first "green" government bonds - designed to finance environmentally-friendly investments - and might also nudge the Bank of England to focus more on climate change.
• But any progress on carbon taxes - endorsed by the International Monetary Fund in October - is likely to be slow as Sunak grapples with how best to close a 400-billion-pound ($556Bn) budget deficit, the largest since World War Two.
• Britain is hosting a major United Nations environmental summit, in November and Sunak told other finance ministers last week that he wanted action on climate change to be a major theme of Britain's chairmanship of the G7 this year.

(Source: Reuters)

• Supreme Ventures Limited, through its subsidiary Supreme Ventures Fintech Limited, has announced the purchase of a 51% majority shareholding in McKayla Financial Services Limited, a Kingston-based microfinance company.
• An incorporated company since 2002, Mckayla Financial Services Ltd focuses on business loans, micro and small loans supported by DBJ and MIDA (Micro Investment Development Agency Limited). Additionally, the company is engaged in receivables, factoring financing, as well as personal loans, consumer loans, and insurance premium financing.
• The acquisition is aligned with SVL’s growth strategy, which has expanded beyond the gaming market and is now making headway into other growth industries, such as the micro-lending space, with significant potential to meet the ever-growing needs of an extensive consumer base.

(Source: JSE)

• Monthly inflation in Brazil slowed in January as a sharp fall in electricity prices dragged down housing costs, official figures showed on Tuesday, but the annual rate of inflation remained high and significantly above the central bank’s year-end goal.
• It was the third month in a row the benchmark annual IPCA (consumer price index) consumer inflation rate has been above 4%, having more than doubled from the record low below 2% last May.
• The annual rate of 4.56% in January was slightly below the 4.61% median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, but the highest for any January since 2017, statistics agency IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics). 

(Source: Reuters)

• Chile’s government revenues will experience a sharp increase in 2021 on the strength of rebounding economic activity, narrowing the fiscal deficit.
• However, Fitch Solutions expects the pace of fiscal consolidation will be slow, as expenditures will remain elevated as the government attempts to support economic activity.
• It has revised its 2021 fiscal deficit forecast to 4.5% of GDP, from 5.8% previously and 7.3% in 2020, due to revenues inflows rebounding more strongly than previously expected in Q4 2020 and its brighter outlook for real GDP growth in 2021.

(Source: Fitch Solutions)

• The top lawmaker on trade matters in the U.S. House of Representatives, Richard Neal, said on Tuesday that he will focus this year on enforcing U.S. trade agreements and working with the Biden administration to combat China's use of forced labor in its western Xinjiang region.
• The lawmaker is also open to negotiating new trade agreements with Britain and the European Union.
• The Massachusetts Democrat also said he would work closely with U.S. Trade Representative nominee Katherine Tai "to make sure that we aggressively enforce all the provisions" in the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

(Source: Reuters)

• The French economy is still on course to rebound 5% this year despite the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic, the head of the central bank said on Tuesday, reiterating its December forecast.
• The euro zone's second-biggest economy suffered its deepest post-war recession last year, with gross domestic product contracting 8.3% due to the coronavirus outbreak and measures to contain it, including two national lockdowns.
• "I can confirm our forecast for 5% growth for the whole of 2021. It's robust and rather cautious while reflecting of course the great uncertainty around the health situation," Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said.
• Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire has built the 2021 budget on a forecast for 6% growth this year, although he has in recent weeks indicated that might be a stretch.

(Source: Reuters)

• Wisynco Group Limited saw a 12.4% (or $217.93Mn) year over year reduction in unaudited net profit to $1.54Bn (EPS: $0.41) for the six months ended December 30, 2020.
• Depressed economic activity and shrinking wallets negatively affected revenues from some of the company’s higher-margin products, while it positively affected some of the lower margin products. The net effect was a $1.06Bn (or 6.2%) fall-off in revenues.
• However, the overall reduction in net profit was tempered by a 3.9% (or $423.94Mn) and 14.3% (or $507.20Mn) decline in direct costs and selling and distribution costs, respectively, as management effected measures to control costs.
• The company’s stock price has fallen by 1.84% since the start of the year, closing Thursday’s trading session at $16.53. At this price, the stock currently trades at a P/E of 24.0x earnings, which is below the Main Market Distribution & Manufacturing Sector Average of 28.0x.

(Source: Wisynco Financials)

• Derrimon Trading Company Limited has advised that its invitation for a subscription of 1,498,698,931 New Ordinary Shares was 2.06x oversubscribed.
• DTL previously advised of its decision to upsize by an additional 301,301,069 New Ordinary Shares (reflecting a 20.10% increase) the maximum allowable under the Prospectus.
• The Company will issue a total of 1,800,000,000 additional Ordinary Shares and take in approximately J$4.08Bn in gross proceeds to be used as described in the Prospectus to reduce indebtedness and facilitate growth through acquisitions.
• All applicants in the Key Investors Pool received the full allotment of the shares purchased. Existing shareholders or Derrimon Team members, lead broker’s clients, and the general public received a partial allotment representing 51.63%, 83.72%, and 39.15%, respectively.

(Source: JSE