Bolivia partners with Argentina to boost military equipment

Bolivia is beefing up its armed forces, as an agreement to purchase military equipment from Argentina has already been outlined. (Latin Correspondent)

Brazil: embattled Rousseff argues countries are not defined by their credit ratings

Embattled Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said on Wednesday that a country is not defined by its credit rating, downplaying Standard & Poor's decision to assign junk status to Latin American largest economy's sovereign debt. (Merco Press)

Mexico: further spending cuts announced for 2016

Doing more with less is the keystone of the federal government’s fiscal strategy for 2016, which calls for a reduction in spending of 221 billion pesos, or US $13nb. (Mexico News Daily)

Peru's rate hike pressures government to spur growth

Peru's finance minister said on Tuesday that the central bank's decision last week to raise the benchmark interest rate put more pressure on the government to take action to ensure the economy emerges from a sharp slowdown. (Reuters)

Jamaica: public sector nurses withdraw service

Nurses’ Association of Jamaica president, Janet Farr, says hospitals and health centres across the islands are being affected by the action. The NAJ president says nurses are upset about the government’s protracted delay in paying retroactive money from the reclassification of the health sector. (Jamaica Gleaner)