Mar 9 (Reuters) – Business credit indicators in Latin America are suggesting an improvement in operating and economic conditions this year, although challenges remain from disparate vaccination processes and political volatility in the region, said the Tuesday Fitch Ratings.
The agency highlighted that Argentine companies continue to suffer from limited access to income in dollars and Brazilian firms face a complex economic recovery, while Chile is beginning a two-year political cycle that will lead to the drafting of a new Constitution. .
Colombia’s corporate income and cash flow, severely damaged by the pandemic and the economic crisis that collapsed demand, will slowly rebound to touch pre-pandemic levels in 2022/2023, the agency said.
In 2020, around 10% of revenues and 20% of the companies’ aggregate EBITDA were lost, the report said.
The recovery expectations for the next two years will depend on the ability of companies to reduce their debt burdens and on the success of the slow vaccination campaigns that will allow economic activity to normalize.
Despite the challenges, Fitch said key sectors are already showing strengthening, albeit still at a slow and gradual pace.
(Written by Marion Giraldo via Mesa de edición en español, edited by Javier Leira)
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