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Latin America Business: Best in 2025
The best news in Latin America business in 2025.
BY LATINVEX EDITORS
The best events in Latin American business this year, according to Latinvex editors.
#1 ARGENTINA MACRO IMPROVES
As Javier Milei celebrates his second anniversary as president of Argentina, he has much to be proud of.
Argentina’s economy – Latin America’s third-largest — will likely grow by 4.5% or more this year, according to the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank. That will be Latin America’s best result and compares with a 1.3% decline last year.
Meanwhile, inflation will likely end up at 28%, according to the IMF, compared with 220% last year.
And poverty dropped to 36% during the third quarter, 9 points lower than the same period of 2024, according to a report by the Social Debt Observatory from the Argentine Catholic University (UCA).
After much nervousness about the October midterm elections – including a run on the peso – Milei surprised by expanding seats in Congress so his party now is the largest block in the House and second-largest in the Senate.
“This should give Milei’s administration a fresh endowment of legitimacy and political capital, which if well used to build broader political alliances, should strengthen governability and the outlook for key reform,” Alberto Ramos, head of LatAm economics at Goldman Sachs, told CNN after the results.
As a result, he now has momentum to continue with his ambitious reforms. First on the agenda is labor and tax reforms.
Meanwhile, his Argentina’s Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI) continues to attract investors. This year alone, the program has attracted nine projects worth a combined $16 billion, of which $5.5 billion will be invested the next two years, Bloomberg Linea reports.
Consumers are also starting to see clear benefits from deregulation. Prices on smart TVs and cellphones have dropped dramatically recently, while the real estate market is continuing to benefit from the end of rent controls.
#2 STRONG DEAL YEAR
Latin America saw strong mergers and acquisitions activity this year. And unlike previous years, Brazil did not dominate completely, with Colombia, Mexico and Central America also producing major deals.
In fact, the largest deal this year came from Colombia-based Banco Davividena, which acquired Scotiabank’s business there and in Costa Rica and Panama for $16.8 billion.
Other key deals included Brazil-connected 3G Capital’s purchase of US footwear and apparel company Skechers for $9.4 billion, Ellliot Investment Management’s Amber’s $5.9 billion planned purchase of U.S.-based oil refiner Citgo (a unit of Venezuela’s PDVSA), the $4.2 billion purchase of Mexico assets of Spain’s Iberdrola by Spanish energy company Grupo Cox and Dutch brewer Heineken’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Central American beverage, food and retail company FIFCO.
#3 STRONG BOND YEAR
Latin America also saw a very strong year for capital markets activity, both by sovereigns and the private sector.
On the sovereign side, Mexico stood out with a series of blockbuster offers that easily surpassed those from other sovereigns. They include a $12 billion offering in July of pre-capitalized securities as part of a series of measures to provide support to Mexican state oil company Pemex. Two months later, Pemex successfully managed a $9.9 billion note buyback funded by the Mexican government.
Peru and Chile also impressed with several big offers, including Peru’s $5.8 billion bond in July.
On the private sector side, one particularly notable transaction was the $2 billion offer by Grupo Nutresa in Colombia in May. The offer was the largest ever by a private company in Colombia. Nutresa came back in August, with another $1 billion offer.
Other notable private-sector offers include $2 billion from Brazilian bioethanol, sugar and energy conglomerate Cosan in November and $1.9 billion from NEXT properties (a unit of Mexican real estate investment trust Fibra NEXT) in December.
#4 CHILE RETURNS TO BUSINESS
Sunday’s elections marked a political shift in Chile to the right, but also to more business-friendly policies after four years of leftist rule by outgoing president Gabriel Boric.
Jose Antonio Kast — who won by a landslide — has pledged more flexible labor laws, cuts to corporate taxes and less regulation.
The business sector in Chile is bullish on the country’s outlook with a new government, which will take over on March 11, 2026.
“If you listen to the speeches José Antonio Kast has given throughout his campaign… this [is] going to be an emergency government to recover lost ground,” Roberto Angelini, president of industrial conglomerate Empresas Copec, told La Tercera newspaper. “And if you believe all that, I think the economy should improve. If the economy improves, the country improves, we all improve, so I’m optimistic.”
Investors for months have cheered on Kast’s win in the runoff — with bond spreads to US Treasuries at levels not seen since before the 2008 global financial crisis, stocks at record highs and the cost of insuring Chilean debt against default back to pre-pandemic levels, Bloomberg reports.
“Society’s support for pro-growth and public safety should maintain a positive bias for Chilean assets, especially in the context of historically favorable terms of trade and an improving investment outlook,” Andres Perez, chief economist for Latin America at Banco Itau, told Bloomberg.
#5 BOLIVIA RETURNS TO BUSINESS
Bolivia’s new president Rodrigo Paz — who assumed office November 8, 2025 – formally ended 19 years of leftist rule and mismanagement.
He has appointed a business-friendly cabinet that includes former central bank director and economist José Gabriel Espinoza as finance minister; Sergio Mauricio Medinacelli Monroy as hydrocarbons and energy minister, a post he held 20 years ago; Óscar Justiniano, until recently president of the Federation of Private Business Owners of Santa Cruz, the country’s economic capital, as Minister of Productive Development; José Romero, president of the Association of Oilseed and Wheat Producers, as Minister of Development Planning and Mauricio Zamora, who owns businesses related to viticulture and hospitality, as Minister of Public Works.
Paz needs all the help he can get. Bolivia’s economy will likely contract by 0.5% this year after barely growing 0.7% last year, according to The World Bank. Meanwhile, inflation is at a 40-year high, CNN reports.
“I want to say, as much as it hurts me, that this is a cesspool of extraordinary dimensions,” Paz said about the conditions he encountered at government offices after the handover of power.
Bolivia is now negotiating multilateral financing that will exceed $9 billion for public and private projects, Reuters reports.
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