After the Federal Reserve’s US$30bn credit loaned to the Brazilian Central Bank up until April 30 2009, aimed at easing a shortage of dollars, markets and investors appeared to have regained confidence.

However the loss of earnings linked to falls in commodity prices in the near-term have deepened the gloomy outlook. Enrique Iglesias, head of the Iberoamerican Summit Secretariat in Madrid and a former chief of the Inter-American Development Bank stated:

“In the last few years, medium-sized and large companies in Latin America have been funding themselves in New York. They issue bonds, arrange loans  . . .  so the credit crunch is hitting the region hard. One aspect of this is that there is a shortage of export credits. For a region that relies so heavily on exports, this is a serious problem.”