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Economía Hoy
An independent analysis of the Latin American economy
The Atlas · the signature

The region, country by country

Pick an economy and the dossier reframes — what it runs on, what it trades, where it sits. Backed by a map of Latin America with the economies pinned.

Brazil Mexico Argentina Colombia Chile Peru Uruguay Ecuador Bolivia
Selected · Brazil
São Paulo, Brazil's financial heartIllustration
São Paulo — Brazil's economic engine.
Country dossier

Brazil

Currency
Real · BRL
Capital
Brasília
Trade bloc
Mercosur
Weight
~½ of South America

Runs on soy, iron ore, oil and beef — and a domestic market so vast it has spent decades barely needing to look outward.

Read the dossier — Brazil, the Giant →
Mexico City skylineIllustration
Mexico City — capital of a nearshoring economy.
Country dossier

Mexico

Currency
Peso · MXN
Capital
Mexico City
Trade bloc
Pacific Alliance
Anchor
~80% exports to the US

Runs on manufacturing and autos, remittances, and trade with the United States — an extension of the North American economy making a structural bet on nearshoring.

Read the dossier — Mexico and Nearshoring →
Buenos Aires waterfrontIllustration
Buenos Aires — the River Plate at dusk.
Country dossier

Argentina

Currency
Peso · ARS
Capital
Buenos Aires
Trade bloc
Mercosur
Frontier
Vaca Muerta shale

Runs on soy and beef, grains, gas and lithium — the richest natural hand in the hemisphere, set against a century-long fight with inflation.

Read the dossier — Argentina and Inflation →
Bogotá, ColombiaIllustration
Bogotá spreading below the Andes.
Country dossier

Colombia

Currency
Peso · COP
Capital
Bogotá
Trade bloc
Pacific Alliance
Identity
Oil & coffee

Runs on oil, coal, coffee and flowers — an oil-and-coffee republic competing on quality where it cannot compete on volume.

Read the dossier — The Andean Economies →
Santiago de ChileIllustration
Santiago — the Andes behind the capital.
Country dossier

Chile

Currency
Peso · CLP
Capital
Santiago
Trade bloc
Pacific Alliance
Anchor
World's copper bank

Runs on copper above all, plus lithium, fruit and wine — a fiscal rule anchored to a long-run copper price has smoothed the cycle better than most.

Read the dossier — The Andean Economies →
Lima, PeruIllustration
Lima on the Pacific cliffs of Miraflores.
Country dossier

Peru

Currency
Sol · PEN
Capital
Lima
Trade bloc
Pacific Alliance
Tension
Mining's social licence

Runs on copper and gold, fishmeal and farm exports — an extraordinary mineral endowment whose licence to extract is perpetually contested.

Read the dossier — The Andean Economies →
Montevideo’s harbour on the Río de la PlataIllustration
Montevideo along the Río de la Plata.
Country dossier

Uruguay

Currency
Peso · UYU
Capital
Montevideo
Trade bloc
Mercosur
Profile
Investment-grade

Runs on beef, soy, dairy and services — a small, stable state that absorbed Argentina's perpetual turbulence next door without being consumed by it.

Read the dossier — The Smaller Economies →
Guayaquil, EcuadorIllustration
Guayaquil — Ecuador's port and commercial hub.
Country dossier

Ecuador

Currency
US Dollar
Capital
Quito
Regime
Dollarised, 2000
Spine
Oil revenue

Runs on oil, bananas and shrimp — a dollarised economy that traded the exchange-rate buffer for imported monetary credibility.

Read the dossier — The Smaller Economies →
La Paz, BoliviaIllustration
La Paz beneath Illimani.
Country dossier

Bolivia

Currency
Boliviano · BOB
Capital
La Paz
Trade bloc
Mercosur (acceding)
Bet
Salar de Uyuni lithium

Runs on natural gas, minerals and some of the world's largest lithium reserves — a subsoil economy mid-transition as gas declines and lithium is slow to arrive.

Read the dossier — The Smaller Economies →
Data · by the numbers

Read the region by its structure, not its headlines

How to read the data →
By the numbers · structural & evergreen
≈½
of the world's known lithium reserves lie in the Argentina–Chile–Bolivia triangle
≈80%
of Mexico's exports head to the United States
≈½
of the regional workforce is in informal employment
650m+
people across Latin America, on a handful of export prices
2001
Argentina's landmark sovereign default — the largest of its time
1904
Panama begins using the US dollar; Ecuador follows in 2000
What moves each economy · commodity → country
Commodity to economy mapping
CommodityAnchor economies
CopperChile · Peru
SoyBrazil · Argentina · Uruguay
OilColombia · Ecuador · Venezuela
CoffeeBrazil · Colombia
LithiumChile · Argentina · Bolivia
Iron oreBrazil
Natural gasBolivia · Argentina

Structural relationships, not a live ticker. Pick a commodity to filter; pick a country to open its dossier in the Atlas above.

With the support of

Desks and data rooms whose work runs alongside ours.

Desks, research offices, and regional bodies whose reading of Latin American markets, trade flows, and structural data runs parallel to the work gathered here.

The wider circle · already on the account