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                 L A T I N   A M E R I C A

          Friday, December 25, 2020, Vol. 21, No. 258

                           Headlines



B R A Z I L

[*] BRAZIL: Outlines Plan to Vaccinate Entire Population


P E R U

PORT PAITA: S&P Alters Outlook Stable, Affirms 'BB+' Debt Rating


V E N E Z U E L A

PETROLEO DE VENEZUELA: May Need $3BB to Recover Gasoline Production


X X X X X X X X

LATAM: ILO Reports Labor Market Retreated a Decade Due to Pandemic
LATAM: Projected Growth Not Enough to Restore Pre-Pandemic Economy

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B R A Z I L
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[*] BRAZIL: Outlines Plan to Vaccinate Entire Population
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EFE News reports that Brazil's government outlined its future
five-phase plan to vaccinate its entire population of 210 million
people against Covid-19, although it did not indicate when the
process will begin.

A fixed date for the start of the first inoculation stage cannot be
established until federal health regulator Anvisa approves and
registers a vaccine, according to the federal Health Ministry,
which said that authorization could be granted by February,
according to EFE News.

                          About Brazil

Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and third largest
in the Americas.  Jair Bolsonaro is the current president, having
been sworn in on Jan. 1, 2019.

S&P Global Ratings affirmed on December 14, 2020, its 'BB-/B'
long-and short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit
ratings on Brazil. The outlook on the long-term ratings remains
stable.

Fitch Ratings' credit rating for Brazil stands at 'BB-' with a
negative outlook (November 2020). Moody's credit rating for Brazil
was last set at Ba2 with stable outlook (April 2018). DBRS's
credit
rating for Brazil is BB (low) with stable outlook (March 2018).

As reported in the Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America, S&P
Global Ratings' stable outlook assumes that timely implementation
of fiscal adjustment and modest economic recovery will help
preserve market confidence and adequate funding conditions for the
government in local markets in the next two years, despite a
sustained increase in the debt burden.



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P E R U
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PORT PAITA: S&P Alters Outlook Stable, Affirms 'BB+' Debt Rating
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S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on Terminales Portuarios
Euroandinos Paita S.A.'s (Paita) to stable from negative and
affirmed the 'BB+' debt rating.

S&P said, "In spite of traffic restrictions and a contraction in
Peru's GDP as well as in Paita's main destination markets, we
expect volumes to increase at least 4% in 2020 and 5% in 2021 amid
a quick recovery in exports after mobility restrictions were
lifted. As a result, we now expect stronger debt service coverage
ratios (DSCRs), with a minimum of 2.25x and an average of 3.15x,
versus our previous expectations of 1.65x and 2.80x, respectively.


"The rating action mainly reflects our view of
stronger-than-expected operating and financial performance in 2020
and 2021, which would lead to a minimum DSCR of about 2.25x and
average DSCR of 3.15x.

"In our view, downside risks have ceased for now. Even in a highly
volatile year such as 2020, with traffic restrictions and negative
GDP levels (in Peru and the main export markets) that we assumed
would hurt Paita's demand levels, the project was able to increase
the total volumes handled at the port. The rebound in export
volumes during the third quarter of the year was better than we
expected, at about 30%, and offset the 17% drop in volumes handled
during the lockdown in Peru (March-June 2020). We expect a total
increase in volumes of at least 4% and increase in revenues of
about 15% in 2020, versus our previous expectations of a decrease
of 6% in volumes and an increase in revenues of 4%.

"Moreover, we believe that even if the Peruvian government imposes
a new lockdown in 2021 due to a new wave of the pandemic, we don't
expect total volumes at the port to decrease more than 10% compared
to 2019 levels, which is significantly better than the threshold we
expect for a downgrade."



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V E N E Z U E L A
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PETROLEO DE VENEZUELA: May Need $3BB to Recover Gasoline Production
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The Latin America Herald reports that Venezuela's oil industry is
amid an unprecedented crisis that is not allowing it to produce
enough fuel since output and processing capacity are currently at
their lowest levels in decades, a situation that could only be
amended with a massive investment in infrastructure and qualified
staff, among other essentials.

Even though the government of leftist incumbent Nicolas Maduro
claims that state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA)
is producing enough gasoline to meet internal demand in order to
resolve the overwhelming situation of endless queues of vehicles
taking place every day at service stations nationwide, the truth is
that the industry is far from those 1.3 million barrels per day
(bpd) that could be produced according to current installed
capacity, according to The Latin America Herald.

In this regard, Gilberto Morillo, a former PDVSA financial planning
manager, says it would take some $3 billion to recover all the
plants out of service or in bad shape that would allow reaching
that 1.3 million bpd capacity, the report notes.

"All of us who worked in Venezuela and lost our jobs in 2003 have
conducted studies on production and refining. We have our own
estimates and, in order to get the four main refineries up and
running to produce 1.3 million bpd, we calculated about $2 or $3
billion -- it could be a higher amount -- so we can restart all
those plants," Morillo told TVVenezuela, a Venezuelan-American
television network airing in the US for the Venezuelan diaspora, in
an interview, the report notes.

Morillo, who was laid off by the administration of the late Hugo
Chavez, argued that heavy investment is not the only factor to be
taken into account since trade relations, as well as a change of
government, are key to luring investment, importing equipment and
hire oil industry experts, the report says.

The minimum investment that would restore capacity "at some point,"
according to Morillo, could be made in a period between three and
six months to reach an output level of 120,000 bpd, which is more
than double what is being currently produced by PDVSA according to
oil industry workers and trade unionists since official figures
have not yet been released by the Maduro administration or the
state-run company, the report discloses.

                         Venezuela

Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a
country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a
continental landmass and a large number of small islands and islets
in the Caribbean sea.  The capital is the city of Caracas.

Hugo Chavez was president to Venezuela from 1999 to 2013.  The
Chavez presidency was plagued with challenges, which included a
2002 coup d'etat, a 2002 national strike and a 2004 recall
referendum.  Nicolas Maduro was elected president in 2013 after the
death of Chavez.  Maduro won a second term at the May 2018
Venezuela elections, but this result has been challenged by
countries including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Canada,
Germany, France and the United States who deemed it fraudulent and
moved to recognize Juan Guaido as president.

The presidencies of Chavez and Maduro have challenged Venezuela
with a socioeconomic and political crisis.  It is marked by
hyperinflation, climbing hunger, poverty, disease, crime and death
rates, social unrest, corruption and emigration from the country.

S&P Global Ratings, in May 2019, removed its long- and short-term
local currency sovereign credit ratings on Venezuela from
CreditWatch with negative implications and affirmed them at
'CCC-/C'. The outlook on the long-term local currency rating is
negative. At the same time, S&P affirmed its 'SD/D' long- and
short-term foreign currency sovereign credit ratings on Venezuela.

Moody's credit rating (long term foreign and domestic issuer
ratings) for Venezuela was last set at C with stable outlook in
March 2018.  Meanwhile, Fitch's long term issuer default rating for
Venezuela was last in 2017 at RD and country ceiling was CC. Fitch,
on June 27, 2019, affirmed then withdrew the ratings due to the
imposition of U.S. sanctions on Venezuela.



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X X X X X X X X
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LATAM: ILO Reports Labor Market Retreated a Decade Due to Pandemic
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Oliver Mason at Rio Times Online reports that Latin America's labor
markets have regressed by at least ten years due to the Covid-19
crisis, which has closed at least one in ten jobs, pushed
unemployment to its highest level in recent decades, and marked
historical lows in employment and labor share.

This is the scenario set by the International Labor Organization
(ILO), which on December 17, presented its report "Labor Panorama
2020" for Latin America and the Caribbean, a document that once
again confirmed that the region has been the most affected by the
pandemic in economic terms, according to Rio Times Online .

LATAM: Projected Growth Not Enough to Restore Pre-Pandemic Economy
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RJR News reports that The Economic Commission for Latin America and
the Caribbean (ECLAC) forecasts that while Latin America and the
Caribbean will experience positive growth in 2021, it will still
not be enough to recover from the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels of
economic activity.

In a new report, ECLAC said the region will experience a
contraction of -7.7 per cent in 2020 but will have a positive
growth rate of 3.7 per cent in 2021, according to RJR News.

In 2021, the report foresees a positive gross domestic product
(GDP) growth rate that will fundamentally reflect a statistical
rebound, but the process of recovering pre-crisis levels of GDP
will be slow and will not conclude until 2024, the report relays.


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S U B S C R I P T I O N   I N F O R M A T I O N

Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America is a daily newsletter
co-published by Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Fairless
Hills, Pennsylvania, USA, and Beard Group, Inc., Washington, D.C.,
USA, Marites O. Claro, Joy A. Agravante, Rousel Elaine T.
Fernandez, Julie Anne L. Toledo, Ivy B. Magdadaro, and Peter A.
Chapman, Editors.

Copyright 2020.  All rights reserved.  ISSN 1529-2746.

This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or
publication in any form (including e-mail forwarding, electronic
re-mailing and photocopying) is strictly prohibited without prior
written permission of the publishers.

Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to
be reliable, but is not guaranteed.

The TCR Latin America subscription rate is US$775 per half-year,
delivered via e-mail.  Additional e-mail subscriptions for members
of the same firm for the term of the initial subscription or
balance thereof are US$25 each.  For subscription information,
contact Peter A. Chapman at 215-945-7000.
.


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