In Argentina, the peso depreciated nearly 19% m-o-m on the decision to float the currency as part of an economic reform package aimed at restoring foreign investors’ confidence. The government is also working on settling debt issues with foreign creditors, something which has kept the country locked out of international debt markets since its 2001 default. The economy posted markedly higher growth in the 1H of 2015, with GDP growing 2.1% and 2.3% in the first two quarters, respectively, whereas growth for the whole of 2014 stood at only 0.5% y-o-y.
In Chile, the key interest rate was raised to 3.5% by the central bank in December on expectations that inflation will exceed 4% in the near future. Consumer price inflation stood at 3.0% y-o-y in December, up from 2.4% in the previous month.