A cement truck during construction at the Paraíso Central housing project in Cali, Wednesday January 5, 2023. Jair F. Coll (Bloomberg)

While the dollar’s course is fluctuating like a pinball between ranges that range between 4,800 and 5,000 Colombian pesos for each green bill, news about foreign investor confidence in the country is not encouraging at the moment. The Emerging Markets Bond Indicator (EMBI), one of the indicators that measures Colombia’s risk premium (the spread between Colombian government debt and US government bonds, which are considered safer), rose to 417 basis points this week, its highest level since last November 22 year, still at a high level.

The risk premium over the United States, the additional cost that the country has to pay to place its 10-year bonds in the market over that country’s, is very high. Colombia is paying more than 900 basis points (or 9%) more than the North American country, when that figure was little more than 800 and quickly fell to 400 in the panic early in the pandemic. In the past 12 months, it’s up 181 points and at times surpassed 1,000.

In short, the message about the solvency of the Colombian economy is that it is bad. One of the factors that the EMBI indicator, invented by US bank JP Morgan, takes into account is the likelihood that the country will default on its external debt. Financial specialist Sebastián Arango points out that this increase is due to “a higher risk perception regarding Colombian sovereign debt, leading foreign investors to demand a higher yield to invest”.

So it’s a kind of thermometer that serves to measure the temperature of the economy. When risk fever rises, for example due to political or societal factors, uncertainty acts as a shock wave, translating into higher bond yields and enticing skeptical investors to invest in Colombia. “If this trend continues, it will become increasingly expensive to attract investors, they will charge higher premiums each time, and the way is open for speculators to bet on places with higher prices,” says Arango.

Within the EMBI, which analysts follow daily on EKG-like graphs, other probabilities are also factored in, such as privacy’s ability to manage debt should the manufacturing sector hypothetically collapse. Financial adviser Marcela Machado reminds that runaway inflation and the loss of confidence due to the uncertainty created by the Petro government’s reforms and proposals have been a very heavy rock when it comes to passing country risk rating exams.

Dayana Herrera, also an analyst, adds that the prospects of drastic changes in sectors such as hydrocarbons, public services or infrastructure have scared financial markets. Machado points out that Colombia has financing needs that will be met with external debt and this is where the devaluation of the peso comes in: “With a currency so volatile and devalued over time, the cost of the country’s debt increases and with it the chances of the… default.

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As of November last year, when the latest calculations were released, external debt accounted for 52% of Colombia’s gross domestic product (about $178,136 million), almost reaching the all-time high of 54.8% in November 2020.

Another indicator of support for assessing the risk of investing in a country, the CDS (Credit Default Swaps in Spanish), has also risen. It is a type of financial insurance taken out to protect against a state defaulting on its government debt payments. Again, you pay more when the risk is higher, and that cost hit 429 basis points last November, the highest since March 2009.

The CDS, which are measured at 10 years, are also used to assess the risk of a country. The current score corresponds to the level of countries that are one or two notches below Colombia’s creditworthiness, according to Herrera. Also remember that Brazil, although it has a lower credit rating than Colombia, has a lower risk premium. The formula for the rebound, the experts repeat, boils down to two elements: legal certainty and reliable political management.

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Ronna McDaniel is urging Republicans not to be “so vicious and caustic” after the heated battle for RNC chairman re-election and urges the GOP to focus on the “big picture” of Democrat defeat

• Ronna McDaniel, chair of the RNC, said Republicans need to focus on defeating Joe Biden
• Urge Republicans to stop attacking each other in the 2024 race
• She also insisted Donald Trump would sign a pledge to support anyone who becomes a candidate

By Katelyn Caralle, US Political Reporter for

Published: 17:41 GMT, 26 February 2023 | Updated: 18:14 GMT, 26 February 2023

Ronna McDaniel is urging Republicans to stop attacking each other and instead focus on beating President Joe Biden in 2024.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) chair also insisted Donald Trump would sign a pledge of support to anyone who becomes the GOP’s presidential nominee in 2024. Those who do not sign the pledge will not be able to participate in the RNC’s debates.

“I think they’re all going to sign it,” McDaniel told CNN host Dana Bash on Sunday morning.

She also said that everyone signed the pledge in the 2016 election.

McDaniel recently won her re-election bid for RNC chair, but the election turned heated and led to a series of scathing attacks on her balance sheet.

RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said Republicans must focus on defeating Joe Biden and not attacking each other in 2024

“I was running for a unity platform and I wanted to bring the party together,” McDaniel said. “And we can’t be so mean and spiteful to each other that we don’t end up wanting to support each other. And I chose to walk like this. It won.’

She said her re-election was a “symbol” of the Republican Party’s commitment to unity.

McDaniel defeated her main challenger, RNC California national committeewoman Harmeet Dhillon by a vote of 111 committee members to 51.

Mike Lindell, CEO of MyPillow, only received four votes.

“We can’t attack each other so much that we lose sight of each other, we have to beat the Democrats,” McDaniel said.

“We have to beat Joe Biden in 2024. And we may have divisive primary elections and disagreements, but in the end we have to settle those to get the bigger picture that’s running our country and doing the right thing Americans.’

The GOP has denounced the commission on presidential debates, claiming it is a partisan group that is not committed to treating candidates fairly — especially those on the Republican side.

Rather, the party will hold its own debates, but will have candidates who wish to participate sign a pledge that they will fully endorse and endorse the eventual Republican nominee for president.

McDaniel called the possible proposal a “no-brainer.”

McDaniel insisted that former President Donald Trump will sign a pledge of support for the eventual GOP nominee in 2024, although he doubts he will agree

However, some shared doubts that Trump would agree should he not receive the nomination.

“If you’re on the Republican National Committee debate stage and you’re asking voters to support you, you should say, ‘I’m going to support the voters and who they’re voting for as a candidate,'” she said.

“If, as RNC chairman, I said I would not support the Republican nominee, I would be removed from office. I would. I would be rightly removed,” she added. “It would be part of our constitution and I would be kicked out as RNC chairman.”

“Anyone who comes onto the stage of debate at the Republican National Committee should be able to say, ‘I will support the will of the voters and the eventual nominee of our party.’

When asked if she thinks Trump would sign the pledge, McDaniel said, “Well, he signed it in 2016. Everyone signed it in 2016.”

“But this is about the here and now. He hasn’t committed to it,” Bash urged.

“Yes, I think they will all sign it. I really do,’ she speculated.

“I think voters are very anxious to win,” added McDaniel. “And they don’t want to see a debate period where people say, ‘I’m not going to support this guy.’ What they have to say is, “I will do anything to defeat Joe Biden.” And that means supporting the Republican Party candidate.”

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 26 (Portal) – Thousands rallied in cities across Mexico on Sunday to protest President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s efforts to downsize the independent electoral body, arguing that the changes threaten democracy — an accusation , which he vigorously denies.

Mexico’s Congress last week approved a major overhaul of the National Electoral Institute (INE), which Lopez Obrador has repeatedly attacked as corrupt and inefficient.

Critics of the legislation that will cut the INE’s budget and staff are holding demonstrations in Mexico City and other major cities as the controversial restructuring nears going to the Mexican Supreme Court.

Veronica Echevarria, a 58-year-old Mexico City psychologist who attended the protests, said she was concerned that Lopez Obrador’s overhaul of the INE was an attempt by him to seize control of the electoral body so that he could be in power could stay.

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“We are fighting to defend our democracy,” she said, wearing a cap that read “Hands off INE”.

They and thousands of others descended on Paseo de la Reforma Boulevard into the Zocalo on Sunday morning, many of them dressed in pink, the colors of the INE.

Video footage on social media showed people approaching the square holding banners that read, “Hands off my vote.”

According to many political analysts, the INE and its predecessor played a key role in creating a pluralistic democracy that ended decades of one-party rule in 2000.

Fernando Belaunzaran, an opposition politician who helped organize the protests, said the changes have weakened the voting system and increased the risk of disputes that will cloud the 2024 election when Lopez Obrador’s successor is elected.

“Usually presidents try to make their succession governable and stable, but the president creates uncertainty,” Belaunzaran said. “He’s playing with fire.”

Belaunzaran said in a tweet on Sunday that there would be demonstrations in more than 100 cities.

Mexican presidents can only serve a single term of six years.

Lopez Obrador, a 69-year-old leftist who claims he was twice robbed of the presidency before eventually winning a landslide victory in the 2018 election, argues the INE is too expensive and biased in favor of its opponents.

The Institute denies this.

According to INE, the presidential reshuffle violates the constitution, limits the institute’s independence and eliminates thousands of jobs dedicated to securing the electoral process, making it more difficult to hold free and fair elections.

Lopez Obrador has also weakened other autonomous bodies that control his power because they drain public coffers and are hostile to his political project. He says his INE restructuring will save $150 million a year.

Last week he called the INE “anti-democratic” and a tool of the ruling elite and accused it of fueling electoral fraud.

Polls show that the President’s National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), which has become the dominant force in Mexico in just a few years, is a strong favorite to win the 2024 election.

Critics of the INE overhaul argue Lopez Obrador is not confident MORENA can remain in power without interference in the electoral process. He denies this.

Belaunzaran and his cronies want to fill Mexico City’s main square, which is adjacent to the presidential palace and is of political importance.

Over the years, the Zocalo has hosted many rallies led by Lopez Obrador, both as president and during his long career as an oppositional scourge of the Mexican establishment.

Demonstrators hope Sunday’s protest will garner even more support than the tens of thousands who turned out in November to denounce Lopez Obrador’s previous unsuccessful attempt to push through constitutional amendments reforming the INE.

Reporting by Dave Graham Additional reporting by Diego Ore and Valentine Hilaire Editing by Josie Kao and Diane Craft

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