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       T R O U B L E D   C O M P A N Y   R E P O R T E R

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

          Friday, March 26, 2021, Vol. 22, No. 56

                           Headlines



A R G E N T I N A

JUJUY PROVINCE : S&P Cuts ICR to SD on Distressed Debt Exchange
JUJUY PROVINCE: S&P Upgrades ICR to 'CCC+', Outlook Stable


B A H A M A S

BAHAMAS: Banks See Increase in Total Private Sector Loan Arrears


B E R M U D A

SIRIUSPOINT LTD: Fitch Rates New USD200MM Preference Shares 'BB+'


B O L I V I A

BANCO UNION: S&P Alters Outlook to Negative, Affirms 'B+' LT Rating
BOLIVIA: S&P Affirms B+ LT Sov. Credit Rating, Outlook Now Neg.


B R A Z I L

BRAZIL: Locals Fear Economic Situation Will Worsen, Survey Says
BRAZIL: March Industrial Confidence Lowest Since August
CYRELA COMMERCIAL: Moody's Rates New BRL$300MM Debentures 'Ba3'
EMBRAER: Incurs 93 Million Net Loss for Q4 FY20
GERDAU TRADE: Moody's Upgrades USD750M Sr. Unsec. Notes from Ba1



C O L O M B I A

COLOMBIA: IDB to Provide $1.25 Billion in Assistance in 2021


D O M I N I C A N   R E P U B L I C

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Injects DOP767MM+ to Agriculture in Six Months


M E X I C O

OPERADORA DE SERVICIOS: S&P Affirms 'BB-' Rating on Add-On Notes


P U E R T O   R I C O

LIBERTY COMMUNICATIONS: S&P Rates New 1st-Lien Term Loan B-2 'B+'

                           - - - - -


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A R G E N T I N A
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JUJUY PROVINCE : S&P Cuts ICR to SD on Distressed Debt Exchange
---------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings lowered its issuer credit rating on the province
of Jujuy to 'SD' (selective default) from 'CC'. S&P also lowered
the issue-level rating on the province's international bond due
2022 to 'D' (default) from 'CC'.

Outlook

S&P doesn't assign outlooks to 'SD' ratings because they express a
condition and not a forward-looking opinion of default
probability.

Upside scenario

S&P said, "We would raise the issuer and issue-level ratings in the
next few days, given that the new terms are now effective. The
rating will reflect our forward-looking view of Jujuy's capacity
and willingness to serve its obligations. The post-default rating
will likely be in the 'CCC' category given that the long-term
global scale 'CCC+' sovereign rating and 'CCC+' transfer and
convertibility (T&C) assessment cap our ratings on Argentine
subnational governments."

Rationale

The province of Jujuy's structurally weak budgetary performance,
limited cash reserves, and uncertain access to international
markets made uncertain its realistic capacity to serve its $210
million (20% of operating revenues) maturity in September 2022.

As a result, the province invited bondholders to renegotiate its
debt profile to make it more sustainable for the long term. Jujuy
continued to service all its debt obligations during the
restructuring process. The transaction was completed just before
the March coupon payment came due.

The consent solicitation agreement announced and agreed to by the
bondholders reduced the average interest rate of the $210 million
bond to 7.9% from 8.625%, extended maturities to 2023-2027 from
2022, and smoothed the repayment profile--providing cash relief in
the next three years by reducing debt service by $211 million
between 2021-2022.

In S&P's view, and particularly for entities under stressed
economic circumstances, an extension of the maturities or reduction
of interest rates with no compensation for investors constitutes a
default.

  Ratings List

  Downgraded  
                             To      From
  Jujuy (Province of)
   Senior Unsecured          D        CC

  Downgraded; CreditWatch/Outlook Action  
                             To      From
  Jujuy (Province of)
   Issuer Credit Rating     SD/--    CC/Negative/--


JUJUY PROVINCE: S&P Upgrades ICR to 'CCC+', Outlook Stable
----------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings raised its issuer credit rating on the province
of Jujuy to 'CCC+' from 'SD'. S&P also raised the issue-level
rating on the province's international bond now due 2027 to 'CCC+'
from 'D'.

Outlook

The stable outlook balances the risks stemming from the Jujuy's
structural weaknesses--sluggish economic growth prospects, volatile
and vulnerable fiscal performance, and limited access to
funding--with an improved debt amortization profile resulting from
the recent debt restructuring.

Downside scenario

S&P said, "We would lower the global scale ratings in the next 12
months if we were to revise downward our transfer and
convertibility (T&C) assessment on Argentina, given that scarcity
of reserve levels could jeopardize the subnational governments'
access to foreign currency for debt service payments. We could also
downgrade the province if its finances and liquidity worsen to the
degree of a potential default or another distressed debt exchange
in the next 12 months."

Upside scenario

S&P said, "Given that we don't believe that Argentine local and
regional governments (LRGs) meet the conditions for us to rate them
above the sovereign, we would only upgrade the province of Jujuy if
we take a similar action on Argentina in the next 12 months and if
we see consistent improvements in the province's individual credit
profile, such as operating surpluses, moderate deficits after
capex, or greater certainty about the province's capacity to tap
debt markets."

Rationale

On March 22, 2021, the province announced that 92% of bondholders
gave their consent to amend the terms of the Cauchari notes
originally due 2022. The restructured terms reduced sharply the
province's debt service until 2022, mitigating the risk of default
in the near term. With the consent, the province pushed the
maturity of the $210 million notes to 2023-2027 from 2022, and
reduced average interest payment to 7.9% from 8.625% previously.
The drop in interest will occur in the September 2021 and March
2022 payments, given that the rate will fall to 5.25% and 5.75%,
respectively. Afterwards, interest rate will be just below the
original rate of 8.38%. Jujuy is the eighth Argentine province to
restructure its international debt after Neuquen, Mendoza, Chubut,
Rio Negro, Cordoba, Salta, and Entre Rios. Unlike other provinces,
Jujuy continued to service all of its debt obligations during the
restructuring process. The transaction was completed just before
the March interest payment was due.

The 'CCC+' ratings reflect Jujuy's volatile and inflexible
budgetary performance, a debt burden of more than 70% of operating
revenues, low cash reserves, and unfavorable prospects for future
access to credit markets. The ratings also reflect a very volatile
and underfunded institutional framework under which Jujuy operates,
and its low GDP per capita, and limited growth prospects.

Lower interest payments and moderate recovery in the economy should
help preserve operating surpluses

S&P expects Jujuy's prudent policies to support its finances in the
next three years, although fiscal performance remains highly
vulnerable to shifts in the national government's fiscal transfers.
After many years of operating deficits, December 2020 preliminary
results indicate an operating surplus of nearly 10% of operating
revenues. The dramatic improvement stems from a combination of
extraordinary transfers from the national government to help the
provinces contain the spread of COVID-19 and restraints on spending
due to delays of public servants' salary increases amid high
inflation.

S&P said, "We expect exceptional transfers to decrease in 2021
while pressure on operating spending is likely to rise, given that
the rise in inflation has been outpacing the public-servant wage
increases. We expect capex to decrease to 6% of total spending in
2021 from the 13% average for 2018-2020 given that the province
completed the construction of the Cauchari solar field. Over the
next few years, Jujuy's capex will mainly be for education and
healthcare."

The debt restructuring excluded reduction in principal payments. As
a result, S&P estimates debt burden to remain above 70% of
operating revenues in 2021 and 2022, among the highest for
Argentine provinces. Provincial debt has risen since 2017 given the
administration's ambitious infrastructure plan and the peso's sharp
depreciation. Nonetheless, the new terms of the international notes
(25% of total debt stock) will reduce interest burden to an average
of 4.3% of operating revenues in 2021 and 2022 from 5.3% in
2018-2020.

Recent improvement in Jujuy's finances has somewhat firmed up its
liquidity position. S&P estimates its available cash would be
sufficient to cover 40% of the next 12 months' of debt service,
estimated at ARP9.8 billion. About 60% of 2021 debt service
payments are for loans from the national government, while the bulk
of commercial debt service consists of the 2027 bond interest
payments totaling $11.8 million for the next 12 months. The
province estimates annual profit from the Cauchari solar farm at
$25 million, which should be sufficient to service the interest
payments.

A weak institutional framework will continue to cap the ratings on
Argentine subnational governments

The economic outlook for Jujuy is weak, in line with that on the
sovereign. S&P said, "We estimate Argentina's GDP to have
contracted 11.7% in 2020 and we forecast it to only grow 4% in
2021. To tackle its considerable economic difficulties, we believe
Argentina will need to establish policy consistency and reduce
fiscal and monetary imbalances, including lower inflation and a
more stable exchange rate regime." The economic contraction and the
exchange rate depreciation caused Jujuy's GDP per capita to drop to
$3,300 in 2020, below the estimated national GDP per capita of
$8,500.

Despite recession, Jujuy has been reducing its large fiscal
imbalances by implementing various austere fiscal policies.
Nonetheless, liquidity management continues to be informal and
highly dependent on access to external sources of financing. The
province's uncertain access to international markets raised
concerns over its capacity to pay the $210 million (20% of
operating revenues) maturity in September 2022. As a result, the
province sought to restructure the notes' terms. Jujuy continued to
service all of its debt obligations during the restructuring
process.

S&P said, "Finally, we believe that amid a severely weak economy,
the sovereign could delay fiscal support measures to subnational
governments, especially given Argentina's history of major policy
swings. We assess the institutional framework for Argentina's LRGs
as very volatile and underfunded, reflecting our perception of the
sovereign's very weak institutional predictability and volatile
intergovernmental system that has been subject to various
modifications to fiscal regulations and lack of consistency over
the years, which jeopardize the LRGs' financial planning and
consequently their credit quality."

  Ratings List

  Upgraded  
                              To          From
  Jujuy (Province of)
   Senior Unsecured          CCC+           D

  Upgraded; CreditWatch/Outlook Action  
                              To          From
  Jujuy (Province of)
   Issuer Credit Rating   CCC+/Stable/--   SD/--/--




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B A H A M A S
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BAHAMAS: Banks See Increase in Total Private Sector Loan Arrears
----------------------------------------------------------------
RJR News reports that Bahamian commercial banks saw total private
sector loan arrears increase by $76 million during the 2020 fourth
quarter as the sector's collective profitability shrunk by 37 per
cent year-over-year.

The Central Bank, in its economic review of the year's final three
months, said the credit portfolio deterioration experienced from
October onwards accounted for all but $10 million of the year's
total $87 million increase in loan arrears as deferrals continued
to unwind amid COVID-19's economic devastation, according to RJR
News.

Banks' credit quality indicators deteriorated during the fourth
quarter, reflecting the ongoing slowdown in domestic economic
activity related to the pandemic, the report notes.

As reported in the Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America on Nov.
17, 2020, S&P Global Ratings lowered its long-term foreign and
local currency sovereign credit ratings on the Commonwealth of
The Bahamas to 'BB-' from 'BB'. At the same time, S&P Global
Ratings revised down its transfer and convertibility assessment to
'BB' from 'BB+'. The outlook is negative.



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B E R M U D A
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SIRIUSPOINT LTD: Fitch Rates New USD200MM Preference Shares 'BB+'
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has assigned a 'BBB' Long-Term Issuer Default Rating
(IDR) to SiriusPoint Ltd. (NYSE: SPNT). The Rating Outlook is
Negative. Fitch has also assigned a 'BB+' rating to SPNT's new $200
million 8.00% resettable fixed rate series B preference issuance.
The new shares were issued in exchange for the Sirius International
Insurance Group, Ltd. series B preference shares held by four
institutional investors, as part of the merger with Third Point
Reinsurance Ltd. (TPRE). Sirius International Group, Ltd.'s
(Sirius) ratings, including its 'BBB' IDR, 'BBB-' senior debt
rating and 'A-' (Strong) Insurer Financial Strength (IFS) rating of
its operating subsidiaries are unaffected by today's actions.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

SPNT's 'BBB' IDR and Negative Outlook is equivalent to the IDR and
Outlook of Sirius, as Fitch's existing ratings on Sirius and its
operating subsidiaries reflects the combined SPNT organization.
SPNT is the ultimate parent holding company resulting from the
merger of Sirius and TPRE that closed on Feb. 26, 2021, with TPRE
renamed to SPNT. As part of the integration, Sirius's and TPRE's
debt is expected to be consolidated into SPNT as the single holding
company debt issuer. Furthermore, TPRE's operating subsidiaries are
expected to be merged into the existing Sirius operating
subsidiaries, with all entities renamed to SiriusPoint branding.

The Negative Outlook reflects operating performance deterioration
in recent years that is inconsistent with the company's very strong
historical performance, as well as Fitch's expectations for the
rating. The revamped SiriusPoint management team has committed to
focusing its reinsurance underwriting portfolio to improve
profitability and reduce overall volatility.

Under Fitch's rating methodology, the new cumulative perpetual
preference shares receive 50% equity credit in evaluating financial
leverage. Fitch considers the preference shares to have 'minimal'
non-performance risk with notching set two below the IDR based on
'Poor' recovery expectations, with no additional notching for
non-performance. The new securities receive 100% credit in Fitch's
capital adequacy ratio and are expected to receive regulatory
capital credit by the Bermuda Monetary Authority.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to negative
rating action/downgrade:

-- A combined ratio above 104% or an operating ratio above 96%;
    sizable adverse prior-year reserve development.

-- Failure to successfully integrate with TPRE.

-- Deterioration in capitalization with a Prism factor-based
    capital model score below 'Strong' or a FLR above 32%.

-- Hybrid securities ratings could also be lowered by one notch
    to reflect higher nonperformance risk should Fitch view
    Bermuda's regulatory environment as becoming more restrictive
    in its supervision of (re)insurers with respect to hybrid
    features.

Factors that could, individually or collectively, lead to positive
rating action/upgrade:

-- The Rating Outlook could return to Stable if operating results
    return to near underwriting profitability, while maintaining
    at least a solidly 'Strong' Prism score.

-- Business profile improvement.

BEST/WORST CASE RATING SCENARIO

International scale credit ratings of Financial Institutions and
Covered Bond issuers have a best-case rating upgrade scenario
(defined as the 99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in
a positive direction) of three notches over a three-year rating
horizon; and a worst-case rating downgrade scenario (defined as the
99th percentile of rating transitions, measured in a negative
direction) of four notches over three years. The complete span of
best- and worst-case scenario credit ratings for all rating
categories ranges from 'AAA' to 'D'. Best- and worst-case scenario
credit ratings are based on historical performance.

SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL ADJUSTMENTS

Fitch has adjusted SPNT's total capital and financial leverage
ratio to include Sirius International Insurance Corporation's
(Sirius International) safety reserve balance without any provision
for deferred taxes. Sirius International allocates the majority of
its pre-tax income, after group contributions (tax-sharing
payments), to an untaxed safety reserve account, as permitted under
Swedish law. Under GAAP, an amount equal to the safety reserve, net
of a related deferred tax liability is classified as shareholders'
equity. This deferred tax liability is only required to be paid by
Sirius International if it fails to maintain prescribed levels of
premium writings and loss reserves in future years.

As a result of the indefinite deferral of these taxes, Fitch
includes the safety reserve, without any provision for deferred
taxes, when calculating available capital for the Prism
factor-based capital model and for financial leverage. The noted
adjustment did not result in a different rating than had the
adjustment not been made, but it is material in how Fitch views
capital and financial leverage.



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B O L I V I A
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BANCO UNION: S&P Alters Outlook to Negative, Affirms 'B+' LT Rating
-------------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on the long-term issuer
credit ratings on Banco Mercantil Santa Cruz S.A. (BMSC) and Banco
Union S.A. to negative from stable. S&P also affirmed the 'B+'
long-term and 'B' short-term ratings on the banks.

S&P's ratings on Bolivia limit those on Bolivia-based banks because
it doesn't consider that the entities could withstand a sovereign
default scenario, given their large exposure to the country in the
form of loans and securities. Therefore, the outlook revision on
Bolivia resulted in the same action on BMSC and Banco Union.

The outlook revision on Bolivia reflects the potential for a
worsening of the sovereign's fiscal or external profile in the
following months. Bolivia's fiscal and external profiles have been
continuously worsening over the last five years. The general
government net debt burden is likely to reach 50% of GDP in 2021
from 29% in 2019 and the country's net external position has also
become weaker due to persistent current account deficits.

BMSC and Banco Union's individual credit fundamentals remain
unchanged in our view, and their stand-alone credit profiles
(SACPs)--excluding the influence of the sovereign--are still 'bb-',
above the rating on Bolivia. S&P will continue monitoring the
banks' SACPs as the COVID-19 pandemic, the related global credit
stress, and the domestic economic challenges play out.
Particularly, existing and expected operating conditions could
jeopardize the banks' capital adequacy due to the potential for
larger credit losses and because a weaker economy could lead us to
consider the risks of banks operating in Bolivia are higher than
before. This would lead us to revise the capital charges applied in
our capital calculation, which would hurt their risk-adjusted
capital (RAC) ratios. Moreover, continued debt moratorium policies
in the country may pressure the banks' cash flows and their
management of asset-liability duration gap, which could temporarily
increase their liquidity risks. However, S&P believes that Banco
Union and BMSC's stable deposit bases and current liquidity levels
will enable them to withstand the potential pressures better than
smaller and less liquid financial institutions.


BOLIVIA: S&P Affirms B+ LT Sov. Credit Rating, Outlook Now Neg.
---------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings revised its rating outlook on Bolivia to
negative from stable. At the same time, S&P affirmed its 'B+'
long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings and
our 'B' short-term foreign and local currency ratings. The transfer
and convertibility assessment is unchanged at 'B+'.

Outlook

The negative outlook reflects an at least one-in-three chance of a
downgrade in the next six to 18 months if the sovereign's fiscal or
external profile worsens beyond our base case.

Downside scenario

Failure to moderate the recent increase in the government's debt
burden could weaken public finances, leading to a downgrade.
Similarly, several years of large current account deficits (CADs)
have weakened Bolivia's narrow net external debt position.
Persistent erosion of the country's external profile would increase
the country's vulnerability to external shocks, leading to a
downgrade.

Upside scenario

Conversely, S&P could revise the outlook to stable over the same
period if timely corrective fiscal and other policies stabilize the
recent increase in the general government debt burden, contain
interest costs, and moderate the current account deficit to contain
external vulnerabilities.

Rationale

S&P said, "The ratings on Bolivia reflect its low per capita GDP
(which we project at US$3,500 in 2021), rising government debt, and
limited fiscal and monetary flexibility. Institutional weaknesses,
characterized by centralized decision-making, weak independence of
institutions, low checks and balances, and a polarized political
landscape limit visibility on future polices. The ratings also
reflect a track record of generally low inflation. Bolivia moved
into a net external debtor position in 2019, and we expect narrow
net external debt (external debt less official foreign-exchange
reserves and public- and financial-sector liquid external assets)
to continue rising to 80% of current account receipts (CAR) by
2024, from 50% in 2020. External weakness also reflects limited
foreign exchange flexibility."

Institutional and economic profile: Higher oil prices, a gradual
recovery from the pandemic, and reduced political uncertainty
should help the Bolivian economy

-- Following an estimated contraction of 7.6% in 2020, we expect
real GDP to increase 4.7% in 2021 and average 3.3% during
2022-2024.

-- Bolivia's economy should recover to its pre-pandemic level by
year-end 2022.

-- Weak political institutions limit the predictability and
effectiveness of policymaking.

Former Finance Minister Luis Arce (from the Movimiento al
Socialismo Party [MAS]) assumed the presidency in November 2020.
Arce took office after a year of rule by an interim administration
that assumed office after former President Evo Morales of the MAS
was forced to leave the presidency in November 2019. President
Arce's electoral victory by a wide margin ensured a smooth
transition of power despite a polarized political context and an
unusually prolonged electoral period. The MAS has a majority in
Congress, facilitating the implementation of his policies.

S&P's institutional assessment of Bolivia takes into account
weaknesses and instabilities, including recent political
developments like the controversy over the results of the 2019
elections and subsequent changes in political leadership.

The newly elected administration faces the challenge of recovering
economic growth. S&P estimates the Bolivian economy contracted 7.6%
in 2020, reflecting the impact of the global downturn, a strict
lockdown, and lower export prices for natural gas. The recession
reversed many years of impressive progress in boosting incomes and
living standards, as well as social inclusion. Unemployment remains
high at 9% at the beginning of 2021, up from 4.8% in 2019.

S&P said, "We expect the Bolivian economy to grow 4.7% in 2021,
driven by higher domestic demand, including social and
infrastructure spending, and recovery of exports amid a rise in
commodity prices. Domestic demand is gradually regaining strength
thanks to stimulus measures implemented in late 2020 and relaxation
of social distancing measures. However, we project average GDP
growth at 3.5% for 2022-2023, below the nearly 4.5% average of the
last decade. A weaker fiscal position will likely limit the
government's ability to boost growth by direct spending. We
estimate GDP per capita fell to US$3,300 in 2020, from US$3,550 in
2019, and is likely to reach US$3,500 in 2021."

The administration is likely to follow a similar development
strategy as the earlier Morales Administration, relying on a
leading role for the public sector in spurring investment and
growth while maintaining government control of key sectors of the
economy. However, the government's weaker public finances, and
poorer prospects for natural gas exports, limit its ability to
implement such a strategy without the risk of creating greater
economic imbalances.

Flexibility and performance profile: Fiscal trajectory and external
profile continue to worsen

-- S&P expects only a gradual reduction of recent large fiscal
deficits.

-- A worsening fiscal trajectory would push net general government
debt just below 60% of GDP and the interest burden above 5% of
revenues by 2023-2024.

-- Bolivia's external indicators are likely to continue to weaken
due to persistent CADs.

S&P said, "We expect the general government fiscal deficit will
narrow to 9.7% of GDP in 2021 from an estimated 12% in 2020 and
average 5.7% of GDP during 2022-2024. Fiscal correction will be
mostly driven by the recovery of economic activity and higher oil
prices. Around 20% of general government revenue comes from the
hydrocarbon tax. We estimate an increase in general government
revenues to almost 27% of GDP in 2021 from 25.5% in 2020." Spending
pressure will remain high in 2021 as the pandemic will continue to
create demands for the government to spend on health and social
programs.

In December 2020, the elected administration created a new cash
transfer program to support the poorest families, at an estimated
cost of US$600 million (1.6% of GDP). A new wave of COVID-19 could
add pressure to create more such emergency support. In addition,
capital expenditure is set to remain high, at around 27% of total
general government expenses, given the administration's ambitious
infrastructure program to sustain growth, industrialize the
country, and promote import substitution.

S&P said, "We expect general government debt to continue growing
over our forecast, reflecting continued fiscal deficits. We expect
the annual increase in net general government debt to average 7.4%
of GDP during 2021-2024. As a result, we estimate net general
government debt to reach almost 60% of GDP by 2024, up from 37% on
average in 2019-2020. We highlight that even before the COVID-19
pandemic, net debt was growing at a very fast pace, reaching 30% of
GDP in 2019 from only 16% in 2017." Higher debt could raise
interest spending to revenue toward 5% by 2023, depending on
interest costs. However, Bolivia's debt metrics are vulnerable to
unexpected exchange-rate depreciation, given that 62% of the
general government debt stock is denominated in foreign currency.

The government's reliance on external financing (from both
commercial and official creditors), given the limited size of local
markets, has led to rising external indebtedness. We expect around
40% of general government annual deficits to be financed
externally. As a result, S&P estimates narrow net external debt to
rise to about 54% of current account receipts (CAR) in 2021 from
52% in 2020 and 23% in 2019. Bolivia had been an external creditor
until 2018.

Bolivia has run CADs since 2015 and is likely to run an external
deficit in the coming two to three years. S&P estimates the CAD to
rise to 3.7% of GDP over the next three years from less than 2% in
2020. The deficits in 2021 and 2022 will reflect recovery in
domestic demand, including significant government spending, and
moderate to weak prospects for export growth. Natural gas exports
represent around 30% of the country's total exports, and production
in the sector has been slowly decreasing in recent years. Moreover,
demand from Argentina and Brazil, the two external buyers of gas,
has been falling, as recent changes in their gas purchase contracts
indicate. Bolivia's proven gas reserves have been decreasing since
2014.

The administration has raised Bolivia's gas exploration budget and
is trying to diversify exports. S&P said, "Nonetheless, we expect
gains from these projects designed to reduce imports and diversify
exports would materialize only in the medium to long term. As a
result, we project external liquidity ratios to slowly worsen.
Gross external financing needs are likely to reach 88% of CAR and
usable reserves in 2024, from 70% in 2020. We estimate
international reserves to remain stable over our forecast, assuming
continued access to external financing." Bolivia's reported foreign
exchange reserves were US$4.8 billion in March 2021 (15% of GDP).

Bolivia has maintained a stable exchange rate since 2011 with the
U.S. dollar. Currency stability has anchored inflation and
inflation expectations. However, inflation could increase more than
S&P expects because of potential supply shocks. The exchange rate
has also contributed to lowering dollarization in the country. On
the other hand, it constrains monetary flexibility.

In accordance with S&P's relevant policies and procedures, the
Rating Committee was composed of analysts that are qualified to
vote in the committee, with sufficient experience to convey the
appropriate level of knowledge and understanding of the methodology
applicable. At the onset of the committee, the chair confirmed that
the information provided to the Rating Committee by the primary
analyst had been distributed in a timely manner and was sufficient
for Committee members to make an informed decision.

After the primary analyst gave opening remarks and explained the
recommendation, the Committee discussed key rating factors and
critical issues in accordance with the relevant criteria.
Qualitative and quantitative risk factors were considered and
discussed, looking at track-record and forecasts.

The committee's assessment of the key rating factors is reflected
in the Ratings Score Snapshot above.

The chair ensured every voting member was given the opportunity to
articulate his/her opinion. The chair or designee reviewed the
draft report to ensure consistency with the Committee decision. The
views and the decision of the rating committee are summarized in
the above rationale and outlook. The weighting of all rating
factors is described in the methodology used in this rating
action.

  Ratings List

  Ratings Affirmed  

  Bolivia (Plurinational State of)

  Transfer & Convertibility Assessment  
   Local Currency B+

  Bolivia (Plurinational State of)

  Senior Unsecured B+

  Ratings Affirmed; CreditWatch/Outlook Action  
                                       To          From
  Bolivia (Plurinational State of)

  Sovereign Credit Rating       B+/Negative/B    B+/Stable/B




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B R A Z I L
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BRAZIL: Locals Fear Economic Situation Will Worsen, Survey Says
---------------------------------------------------------------
Oliver Mason at Rio Times Online reports that two out of three
Brazilians say the country's economic situation will worsen, a
record percentage registered by the Datafolha survey. According to
the survey, 41% of Brazilians had such an expectation in December.
Now, it stands at 65%.

Conversely, the percentage of people who expect an improvement in
the economic scenario fell from 28% to 11%, according to the survey
conducted on March 15 and 16, Rio Times Online relays.

This subjective perception of Brazilians contrasts with
better-than-expected economic news of recent weeks and the solid
forecasts of leading institutions for the current year, says the
report.

The previous negative record in the surveys which included this
question, started in 1997, was the 60% registered in March 2015,
during the recession under Dilma Rousseff, the report notes.


                            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.

BRAZIL: March Industrial Confidence Lowest Since August
-------------------------------------------------------
Rio Times Online reports that Brazilian industrial confidence fell
in March for a third month to its lowest since last August, a
survey showed on March 19, as a deadly second wave of the COVID-19
pandemic sweeps the country and triggers new lockdown measures in
many states.

The Fundacao Getulio Vargas' national industrial confidence index
for March fell 4.0 points to a seasonally adjusted 103.9 from 107.9
in February, a preliminary reading showed, according to Rio Times
Online.

That is the lowest since August 2020, and a further slip from
December's 10-year high, adds the report.

                            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.

CYRELA COMMERCIAL: Moody's Rates New BRL$300MM Debentures 'Ba3'
---------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's America Latina assigned a Ba3 (global scale)/A2.br
(national scale) senior unsecured rating to Cyrela Commercial
Properties S.A.'s new 13th series of locally issued debentures with
a total face amount of BRL $300 million. The offering will be split
into two tranches, comprising a first tranche of BRL $100 million
due 2024 and a second tranche of BRL $200 million due 2026. The
company intends to use the net proceeds to reinforce its cash
position and other general corporate uses. The rating outlook
remains positive.

Assignment:

Issuer: Cyrela Commercial Properties S.A.

New 13th Series of Local Debentures BRL $300 million due 2024 and
2026, Assigned Ba3/A2.br senior unsecured

RATINGS RATIONALE

Cyrela Commercial Properties S.A.'s ("CCP") Ba3/A2.br senior
unsecured rating reflects the company's status as one of the
leading owners and operators of high-quality corporate office
towers and shopping malls in Brazil. The ratings incorporate the
company's strengthened balance sheet with reduced leverage metrics
and higher cash flows generated from a growing, top quality
diversified portfolio. The company's liquidity and funding profile
is adequate, supported by its internally generated cash flow, along
with approximately BRL 416 million in cash and cash equivalents on
hand. Additionally, CCP's substantial unencumbered asset pool
provides a source of alternative liquidity at approximately 49% of
gross assets, to meet a manageable near-term debt maturity
schedule.

The company's main credit constraints include its elevated secured
debt levels, although improved over the past several years,
moderate near-term lease maturity risk, as well as the growing
e-commerce penetration in the retail sector, which COVID-19
(coronavirus) has accelerated in terms of changing consumer
preferences and spending habits. Although the portfolio is
geographically concentrated in the city of Sao Paulo, the risk is
substantially mitigated by the city and the region's strong and
resilient economic power. Similar to other retail landlords, CCP
experienced operational challenges in 2020 due to social
distancing, mandatory store closures or restricted occupancy levels
in the mall segment, resulting in rent discounts and concessions.
But this has been partially offset by more resiliency in the Class
A/A+ corporate office market space, despite the home-office
mandates.

After incorporating Moody's global standard adjustments, for the
last 12-month (LTM) period ended on 31 December 2020, CCP's total
debt plus preferred stock as a percentage of gross assets and net
debt to EBITDA were 36% and 5.3x (which does not include the full
year benefit of EBITDA from the acquisition of 4th floor of the
Faria Lima Financial Center building in November 2020),
respectively, compared to 36% and 3.7x in 2019. Since 2018, the
company's secured debt levels have declined to approximately 30% of
gross assets from a peak of approximately 40%, and the fixed charge
coverage ratio has improved to 2.5x from 1.7x, providing a cushion
against unexpected cash flow decline or higher interest rates.
The positive rating outlook is based on our expectation that the
company will continue to lower its leverage through its liability
management plan while improving the portfolio's operational
performance and profitability.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS

Upward rating movement would be predicated upon CCP achieving the
following criteria on a sustained basis: 1) Maintenance of a cash
balance between BRL 200 and BRL 400 million to meet its debt
obligations and short-term liquidity needs; 2) total debt plus
preferred stock as a percentage of gross assets below 40%; 3) net
debt to EBITDA below 5.0x (adjusted for any acquisitions); 4)
secured debt at or below 35% of gross assets; and 5) fixed charge
cover ratio above 2.0x. An increase in CCP's owned share of total
portfolio would be credit positive.
Downward rating movement or a return to a stable outlook would
likely result from the following criteria on a sustained basis: 1)
A loss of liquidity to cover 24 months of debt obligations; 2)
total debt plus preferred stock as a percentage of gross assets
approaching 50%; 3) net debt to EBITDA above 6.0x; 4) significant
decline in the portfolio's occupancy rate or a 10% decline in
EBITDA margins; 5) fixed charge coverage ratio approaching 1.2x.
Downward rating pressure on Brazil's credit profile would also
negatively affect the company's ratings and outlook.

Based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Cyrela Commercial Properties S.A. [B3:
CCPR3] is in the business of owning, acquiring, developing and
managing Class A/A+ corporate office towers and shopping centers.
As of year-end 2020, CCP owned whole and partial stakes in 15
corporate office towers and seven shopping malls with a gross
leasable area (GLA) of 518,000 square meters (sqm). The company's
owned consolidated share of the GLA was approximately 252,000 sqm.

The principal methodology used in these ratings was REITs and Other
Commercial Real Estate Firms published in September 2018.

EMBRAER: Incurs 93 Million Net Loss for Q4 FY20
-----------------------------------------------
Embraer Brazilian Aviation Co released an Earnings Call Transcript
for the fourth quarter 2020:

Francisco Gomes Neto -- President and Chief Executive Officer:

"Good afternoon to all and thank you for joining us in our fourth
quarter and fiscal year 2020 results presentation. I hope that all
of you are well and safe. And I thank you for your interest in our
company and most of all in the confidence in our future. I will
start with a short introduction about last year.

And afterwards, our CFO, Antonio, will go into more details on the
numbers for 2020 and the fourth quarter. I will return at the end
of the presentation to speak a bit more about our main initiatives
and my vision of the future. Our challenges in 2020 were not just
limited to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. We also had to deal with
the termination of the strategic partnership with Boeing in
commercial aviation.

This and other challenges negatively impacted our revenues and
costs throughout 2020, directly affecting the results of the
company. That said, we reacted quickly to adapt to the new reality
in a integrated and structured way, prioritizing the health and
safety of our employees, supporting our society with several
initiatives to combat the pandemic, and we also focused on cash
preservation. Faced with this new reality, we adjusted our
workforce to create a leaner and rightsized the organization. We
are now more agile to progress with efficient gains with sales
campaigns and with strategic partnerships.

During this process, we also recovered the synergies with the
reintegration of the commercial aviation business and its related
services. Finally, we created a new business plan, known as Embraer
Strategic Plan '21/'25, which will be our guide for the next
several years to return to grow in a profitable and sustainable
way, resulting in Embraer becoming more profitable than it was in
the past. Before I go into more details regarding the '21/'25
initiatives, we will discuss the 2020 results. I will now hand it
over to Antonio, and I will return in the end.

Thank you.

Antonio Carlos Garcia -- Chief Financial Officer and Procurement:

Thank you, Francisco. 2020 was my first year at Embraer and a very
challenging and unprecedented year for the company, but I'm very
happy with our achievements that we had, which I will show in more
detail in the upcoming slides. The Embraer team is impressive, and
I'm convinced that Embraer is on the right path. Now, moving to the
financial highlights on slide five.

The COVID impact was felt much more in commercial aviation. Our
consolidated revenue declined around 30% in 2020. And commercial
aviation and its related services responded for more than 8% of
this decline. During the year, we made a great progress in
integrating commercial aviation within Embraer, and all of our
business units are now moving forward with a united focus on
improving results as we gradually emerge from the pandemic.

We have a resilient backlog with strong customer and partners to
build on. And we are proud to say that none of our commercial
customers canceled any of their orders during 2020. We, in fact,
are cautiously optimistic in signing new orders in commercial
aviation during 2021. The executive aviation and defense businesses
showed encouraging performance during the year, with a strong
profitability improvement as we continue to work on this business
to generate consistent margin going forward.

The record margins in executive jets proves that we are in the
right way. We changed the company mindset to implement the actions
to reduce cash outflows, expenses and optimizing investments, SG&A
in 2020 without compromising any of our ongoing projects or
operating capabilities of the business. Besides that, the rightsize
we announced in the third quarter has been implemented, and we
expect a tailwind from that in 2021 results. We continue to work on
reducing our working capital needs to unlock cash in our business,
particularly with respect to inventories and accounts payables.

As we highlighted in the second quarter and again reiterated in the
third quarter of last year, we finished 2020 with a very strong
cash generation, which was ahead of our expectation of breakeven
cash in the second part of the year. We are also able to improve
our liquidity during the last -- difficult time last year, securing
more than a billion in finance from different sources, such as
BNDES, U.S. EXIM private and public banks as well from the debt
capital market with long-term bonds, finished the year with a very
strong liquidity of $2.8 billion in cash. It's important to note
that due to the uncertainties related to the pandemic and its
impact on our business, we are not announcing financial guidance
for 2021 this time.

We will continue to evaluate the possibility of releasing 2021
guidance as the year progresses. So, moving to the highlights for
our commercial aviation business on slide six. Deliveries recovered
nicely in the fourth quarter, with 28 jets delivered in the period
and a total of 44 aircraft delivered during 2020. This also
included the milestone of the e-jets number 1,600 delivers to
Helvetic Airways.

We also had delivered to important and longtime customers in 2020,
including the AerCap, Air France, America Airlines, ASU, United
Airlines and others. We had zero firm order cancellation since the
start of the pandemic, a fact that we are very proud of, which
illustrates a less speculative nature of our backlog compared to
peers. Despite some new COVID outbreaks in several regions of the
world and at the end of 2020 and early 2021, had delayed some sales
campaign, but we are confident that we will announce important new
orders in short term and throughout 2021. Our Commercial Aircraft
continue to lead the recovery of domestic flights in several
markets around the world and airlines recognized the economics and
the environmental value of our best-in-class jets in the 750 seats
category.

We see strong market demand for E-Jets around the world. And last
year lessors placed up to 90 used e-jets in the market, and we
added six new e-jets operators during the pandemic. Now, shifting
to executive aviation highlights on slide seven. Embraer delivered
43 executive jets in the fourth quarter, leading to a total of 86
jets delivered in 2020, with no whitetail carryover into 2021.

As far as profitability, 2020 was really a great year for Embraer's
executive jets, as represented strong margins of high-single digits
and cash generation with a solid backlog and improving sales. In
terms of client recognition, the Phenom 300 was the best-selling
light jet again in 2020, the ninth consecutive year. And last year,
the Phenom 300 was not only the best-selling light jet but also the
best-selling twin-engine jet in the entire executive aviation
industry. We also reached an important milestone of the first
Praetor 600 Jet delivered to the fleet launch operator, Flexjet, in
2020.

A very important customer that has chosen Phenoms and Praetors to
expand its business in a multiyear deal that was signed in 2019. I
would also like to highlight that the pandemic recovery is on its
way in the executive aviation, as business jet operation are
already back to over 90% of pre-pandemic levels with a strong
momentum in 2021 for Embraer. So, on slide eight, we go into some
highlights for our defense and security business. During the year,
we signed a contract with the Brazilian Navy as part of a
consortium with ThyssenKrupp to build four ships, with deliveries
expected to happen between 2025 and 2028.

This underscores our positioning as the true defense house of
Brazil. We were also very happy to announce the sales of two C-390
Millennium cargo transport and tanker aircraft to Hungary, closing
our second export customer of these aircraft after Portugal. We
also delivered two C-390 aircraft to the Brazil Air Force in 2020
and 16 A-29 Super Tucanos to the clients around the world during
the period. We also continue to work in 2020 with Brazilian Air
Force to study development of a new light cargo aircraft with short
takeoff and landing capabilities.

In terms of profitability, defense and security was our most
resilient business during the pandemic, as revenue grew, and our
operating margin moved from the negative in 2019 to a
mid-single-digit positive in 2020. Slide No. 9 with respect to our
services and support business highlights. Let me first say that the
business was significantly impacted in the early days of the
pandemic as most commercial and business jet worldwide were
stopping.

But since then, services and support has shown an impressive and
consistent improvement during 2020. The business continued to
perform despite the impact of the pandemic, completing 11
conversion of a Legacy 450 to new Praetor 500 jets during the year.
Also, services and support helped and supported our commercial
airline customers to adapt the realities imposed by the pandemic,
working to get e-jets modify and certified for a cargo
transportation cabins. For the long term, we are proud that our
OGMA MRO business in Portugal was selected to become a new Pratt &
Whitney authorized maintenance center for GTF engines in Europe.

After some initial investment in the business, we are excited for
the growth opportunity for OGMA to potentially triple in size in
the next several years. Finally, we are optimistic for the future
as we finish 2020 with services and support activities approaching
pre-pandemic levels. Now, let's go into more details on the
quarterly and yearly financial results. On Slide 11, we show our
year-end backlog, which finished 2020 at $14.4 billion and declined
mainly due to the impact of the pandemic on new orders,
particularly in commercial aviation.

Our total backlog fell around 15% in 2020, which compares favorably
with our peers that face larger cancellations. It also highlights
our high-quality customer backlog with a very little speculative
order. We are also cautiously optimistic regarding better order
environment across all of our business in 2021. On Slide 12, we
turn to aircraft deliveries, which showed a strong recovery in the
new normal levels in the fourth quarter.

We delivered a total of 44 commercial aircraft in the year, with
more than half coming in the fourth quarter and delivered a total
of 86 executive jets in 2020, of which half came from the fourth
quarter. The annual deliveries in commercial aviation were clearly
impacted by the pandemic, while executive aviation deliveries were
less affected. So moving to net revenue on Slide 13. Embraer
reported just under $3.80 billion in revenue for 2020, which was a
30% decline compared with 2019.

As mentioned previously, decline in commercial aviation and its
related service were responsible for more than 80% of these
reductions. Looking at the geographic split of our 2020 revenues
performance of North America and European market has a direct
impact on our business, as just over 80% of our 2020 revenues came
in from this region. Continued improvement on COVID cases, vaccine
rollouts and eventually, improvements on passenger traffic, give us
optimism for the future. In Slide 14, Embraer presented a
significant cost control during the year of 2020 as part of its
cultural transformation, as clearly shown on Slide 14.

Our total SG&A declined almost 30% in 2020 as compared to 2019,
excluding a bad debt provision of 62 million in 2020. This
reduction is impressive and hardly in line with decline in sales
for the year, despite a large part of the SG&A expenses being fixed
cost in nature. So regarding adjusted EBIT in slide 15. Embraer had
a solid fourth quarter with one of the best levels of consolidated
margin in recent years at 4.2% positive.

This reflects not only the improvement in commercial and executive
deliveries in the quarter, but also the improvements in defense and
security and services and Support pipelines as well the benefits of
cost control and the initial positive impacts of our restructuring
actions taken in September. Adjusted EBIT in the fourth quarter
excludes a total of $27 million of positive net impacts coming from
restructuring expenses impairments and bad debt provisions. For the
full year, we finished with adjusted EBIT of a loss of $101
million, representing an adjusted EBIT margin of minus 2.7%. This
compares favorably with last year breakeven level, despite a more
than 30% decline in revenues caused largely by the COVID-19
pandemic.

We expect higher profitability levels in the future years as we
continue to recover top line growth and cost reduction initiatives
are mostly permanent. For 2020, the adjusted EBIT margin by segment
was minus 7% at commercial, plus 8% at executives, plus 6% defense
and 4% services and support through moving items and one-off
impacts. Slide 16 shows our adjusted EBITDA, which was positive 146
million in the fourth quarter and also excluding the special items
already mentioned in the previous slide. Adjusted EBITDA margin for
the fourth quarter was 7.9%.

For 2020, despite the significant impact that the pandemic had in
our business and with revenue dropping 30%, Embraer generated a
positive adjusted EBITDA of $82 million for the year with an
adjusted EBITDA margin of 2.2%, which was very close to 2019
levels, despite a meaningful decline in revenues. On slide 17, we
turn to the adjusted net income, which for the fourth quarter was a
loss of 30 million and was better than the adjusted net loss of 93
million in the last year for the fourth quarter, despite lower
revenue in the period. For the full year, Embraer reported adjusted
net loss of 464 million, which was higher than 2019, driven by the
lower operating income as well, higher financial expenses. We
believe that higher profitability in the coming years, combined
with lower financial expenses as we continue to recover the top
line and improve our cash position, will be important drivers for
Embraer earnings rebound in the years ahead.

Another lever we pulled during 2020 to reduce cash outflow was
reduction of capex and development spending that we show in slide
18. The total investment declined 60% to 203 million. Thought it's
very important to note that none of our ongoing products has been
compromised in terms of timing. We are nearing the end of the
development cycle for the C-390 Millennium, the E175-E2 development
continues to progress as expected, and we continue to invest in our
executive aviation segment to maintain the competitiveness with the
state-of-the-art products.

As we look to the future, investment is likely to increase a little
bit from 2020 levels, but not in a significant way as our product
portfolio is new and any large investment will require strategic
partners. We are also highly focused on improving free cash flow
generation in the coming years. So, on Slide 19, we show the
company's free cash flow in 2019 and '20. We finished the year with
a free cash flow usage of 990 million.

But I'd like to highlight the strong cash generation in the fourth
quarter of 725 million, which almost equalized the last year
recorded free cash flow generation. Also, we promised to the market
that the second half of the year would be breakeven free cash flow.
And we actually beat that by generating almost 160 million of free
cash flow in the second half. Cost control, improvements in
deliveries and more efficient use of working capital are all helped
in the cash flow increase for the fourth quarter.

We continue to work to deliver meaningful free cash flow
improvements in 2021 versus 2020, as we gain further traction in
our working capital initiatives as well additional cost efficient
in some revenue gains. Finally, on Slide 20, we show the company's
strong liquidity position. As Embraer finished the year with nearly
2.8 billion in cash, much improvement from the previous quarter and
similar to 2019 levels, we were successfully getting additional
liquidity during 2020 via different finance sources. We have less
than 10% of our debt coming due in the next 12 months, and the
average maturity of our debt is above four years.

With that, I will now turn the call over to Franciso for his
closing remarks. Thank you.

Francisco Gomes Neto -- President and Chief Executive Officer:

As you could see from Antonio's presentation, the pandemic has
meaningfully impacted the results of our business. But the
fourth-quarter results are a clear example that we are making
significant progress in our financial performance. The numbers
reflect not only the actions implemented as a response to the
crisis but also the beginning of the execution of our strategic
plan. 2021 will still be a challenging year as the crisis has not
ended yet and the scenario remains uncertain and volatile.

But despite all of the uncertainty, we are confident that this will
be a year of recovery in our main markets to get back to stronger
growth from 2022 onwards. With respect to our '21/'25 plan, I would
like to highlight a few points. Our strategy for the next five
years has two main objectives: Grow revenues and improve
profitability. To do this, we must work as much on the top line to
increase revenues as on the bottom line to reduce costs and improve
margins.

We will achieve these objectives, focusing on the following fronts.
Revenue growth of our current portfolio of products in all business
units on projects to bring efficient gains and our initiatives for
innovation, diversification and strategic partnerships. Some of the
actions of the business plan are already progressing and have
started to show results, such as on the sales front. In commercial
aviation, it is market consensus that the sector's recovery will
begin first with regional aviation.

And the E2 family of jets is the best solution for customers that
need to make their fleets more flexible, economical and efficient.
This is in addition to a strong and continuous demand for E1 jets,
principally in the U.S. market. We have various sales campaigns
ongoing and the advance in vaccinations in different regions of the
world will be a crucial factor in closing these new opportunities.

Executive aviation in 2020 had its best performance ever with
stronger profitability and cash generation, despite the challenges
of the pandemic and starts 2021 even better with strong sales. The
defense business remains resilient with good growth prospects and
improvement in profitability. As we continue to ramp up the
learning curve and maturity of our multi-mission transport
aircraft, the C-390 Millennium and expanded the pipelining of sales
campaigns for this aircraft and for the Super Tucano as well.
Overall, across our businesses, we had one of the newest portfolios
of products in their respective industries with the E2s, the
Phenoms, the Praetors and the C-390.

They are state-of-the-art, technologically disruptive and highly
capable products that are the result of the last several years of
investments that we have made. These products should help us to
grow much faster than overall market levels as we emerged from the
pandemic. The services and support area is already approaching
pre-pandemic levels and continues a rapid recovery with good
financial performance. The 25-year multibillion-dollar contract
signed between OGMA and Pratt & Whitney for engine maintenance in
Portugal will triple the subsidiaries revenues in the next several
years.

This translates to revenue and profitability growth for Embraer. On
efficiency gains, already in the second half of 2020, we started to
see significant improvements in inventory levels, reduction in the
production cycles of our aircraft and components and cost
reductions in general. In addition, we continue to focus on
maintaining our innovation DNA. We announced the creation of Eve, a
business dedicated to the development of the advanced air mobility
ecosystem.

In the eVTOL, in electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, a
segment with strong growth potential in the years to come. And we
also remained focused on the discussion of strategic partnerships
to open new markets, among others, for our commercial jets, our
multi-mission aircraft, the C-390 on development of the new
turboprop project and on growth in our services and support
business. I know that many of you have invested in and have for the
Embraer for a long time and know our company very well. For that
reason, I think it's important that you leave this presentation
with a clear understanding regarding five key points.

First, this is a different company. We are not the same business
that we were years ago. And we are not yet the business that we'll
become in the next few years. We are in a process of
transformation, and we are moving fast.

Second, we are very confident in our strategy. And this confidence
motivates us to accelerate and remain focused on execution with
discipline. Third, it is certain that we will direct our team, our
assets and our skill set to be a larger and more profitable company
in the next few years. We can see many opportunities ahead of us,
despite the short-term challenges we are facing; fourth, we have a
very united leadership team, a company focused on the execution of
our plan in a high level of alignment, motivation and energy in the
entire organization, which has made a big difference in our process
of recovery after the pandemic.

And fifth, Embraer is a company that is concerned with the
environment. And one of the first in the industry to adopt advanced
norms of environmental management and social responsibility in its
region with high governance and ethical standards. We are committed
to ESG, and we will progress even further on this agenda. Finally,
our founder, Ozires Silva, the first Brazilian and one of the few
non-Americas to be recognized with the Daniel Guggenheim Medal,
which is granted as one of the highest awards in Aviation used to
say Embraer always challenged the impossible and is capable of
getting where it wants, thanks to the passion and competency to
always do the best.

We preserve and incentivize this passion in the high competency of
our engineering force and other areas. And now with more focus on
results and simplicity of actions, we are sure that we are making a
difference to be a bigger and more profitable organization for our
shareholders. Thank you very much."

As reported in the Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America on
Feb. 23, 2021, S&P Global Ratings, on Feb. 19, 2021, lowered its
ratings on Brazil-based aircraft manufacturer Embraer S.A. to 'BB'
from 'BB+'.  The recovery on the company's senior unsecured notes
remains at '4'.

GERDAU TRADE: Moody's Upgrades USD750M Sr. Unsec. Notes from Ba1
----------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service has upgraded the ratings of the debt
issues of Gerdau Trade Inc. (guaranteed by Gerdau S.A. and its
operating subsidiaries in Brazil) and of GTL Trade Finance Inc.
(guaranteed by Gerdau S.A. and its operating subsidiaries in
Brazil), as well as the solid waste disposal bonds issued by St.
Paul Port Authority, MN (guaranteed by Gerdau S.A.) to Baa3 from
Ba1. At the same time, Moody's has assigned a Baa3 issuer rating to
Gerdau S.A. ("Gerdau") and withdrawn the company's corporate family
rating. The outlook is stable.

Ratings upgraded:

Issuer: Gerdau Trade Inc.

USD 750 million senior unsecured notes due 2023: to Baa3 from Ba1

Issuer: GTL Trade Finance Inc.

USD 1,250 million senior unsecured notes due 2024: to Baa3 from
Ba1

USD 500 million senior unsecured notes due 2044: to Baa3 from Ba1

Issuer: St. Paul Port Authority, MN

USD 51 million solid waste disposal revenue bonds due 2037: to Baa3
from Ba1

Ratings assigned:

Issuer: Gerdau S.A.

Issuer rating: Baa3

Ratings withdrawn:

Issuer: Gerdau S.A.

Corporate Family Rating: withdrawn, previously rated Ba1

The outlook for all ratings is stable

RATINGS RATIONALE:

The upgrade of Gerdau's ratings to Baa3 from Ba1 reflects the
company's history of conservative capital allocation, which
combined with Moody's expectations of strong operating performance
throughout 2021, will contribute to further deleveraging and
balance sheet strengthening. Gerdau has paid down $3.7 billion in
total debt since 2014 and streamlined operations through asset
sales and optimization of its operating capacity. The company has
also maintained a disciplined approach to liquidity, investments
and dividend distributions. The company's strategy and execution
contributed to sequential reductions in financial leverage and
improvements in credit metrics increasing its cushion to withstand
future volatility in operations. Gerdau's adjusted leverage
declined to 2.6x at the end of 2020 from the 6.2x peak in 2015 and
will decline further to 2x in 2021 on the back of current positive
industry dynamics in Brazil and in the US. Overtime, Moody's
expects Gerdau to maintain a robust liquidity profile, adjusted
leverage within the 2-3x range and reported net leverage within its
target of 1.0-1.5x.

Gerdau's Baa3 ratings are supported by the company's historically
solid cash generation, which reflects its strong market position in
the several markets where it operates, good operational and
geographic diversity, cost-driven management, flexible mini-mill
cost structure, as well as conservative financial policies. Despite
volatile operating environments, Gerdau has generated positive free
cash flows since 2013, and was able to significantly reduce debt
levels, partially with the proceeds from asset divestitures.
Constraining the ratings are the company's exposure to the
cyclicality of the steel industry, especially in Brazil and the US,
and to exchange rate volatility considering that more than half of
its cash flows are generated in Brazil and in other Latin American
countries. The potential liquidity call coming from a negative
ruling under Brazil's Administrative Council of Tax Appeals (CARF)
is an additional credit concern, although Moody's recognizes that
visibility over this potential overhang is low at this point.

Gerdau's operating performance in 2021 will remain strong, with
operations in Brazil and the US benefiting from solid fundamentals
mainly for residential construction and healthy metal spreads. The
special steel segment will benefit form a pickup in automotive
production after the 2020 slump. Steel prices will likely soften
from current high levels during the second half of 2021, but Gerdau
will continue to benefit from rising sales volumes in its main
markets and a depreciated local currency in Brazil to preserve
operating margins and prices in local currency. The company's
Moody's-adjusted consolidated EBITDA margin increased to 19% in
2020 from a low of 9.9% in 2017 and will remain within 14%-16% in
the future even considering volatility in its key end markets. The
company's profitability level reflects its streamlined operations
after several asset sales and focus on higher value-added products
and markets, as well as its significant operating leverage coming
from the mini-mill production profile, which is responsible for
about 75% of its total crude steel capacity.

LIQUIDITY

Gerdau has a strong liquidity position, which provides it with
flexibility to withstand short term shocks. Gerdau had a BRL7.7
billion cash position at the end of 2020, plus a BRL4.2 billion
($800 million) revolver facility due in October 2024 (of which BRL4
billion was available) and only BRL2.7 billion in debt coming due
until the end of 2022. In January 2021, Gerdau paid down BRL1.2
billion ($230 million) in outstanding notes, which reduced its cash
position but also eliminated virtually all material debt maturities
until the last quarter of 2022. The company has flexibility to
reduce capex and dividend payments to the minimum required by law
to adjust its cash outflows in times of lower demand. Historically,
Gerdau has generated positive free cash flow even during downturns
thanks to its financial discipline and working capital management,
and pursued liability management initiatives that reduced debt cost
and increased the average maturity of debt.

ESG CONSIDERATIONS

Moody's views the global steel sector as having high environmental
risk, particularly with respect to carbon transition risk and waste
and pollution. Steel companies that operate blast furnaces are more
exposed to carbon transition risk than electric arc furnace (EAF)
producers, although the latter have high electricity requirements.
The industry's transition to EAF will be slow and require new
capital investment, as well as sufficiency of scrap supply. In this
sense, Gerdau's predominantly mini-mill operating structure and
scrap-recycling facilities give it an edge relative to producers
focused on blast furnaces. Gerdau owns 254,000 hectares of forest,
of which 91,000 are areas for biodiversity conservation, within the
Cerrado and Atlantic Rainforest biomes. The company is the world's
largest producer of charcoal and uses it as a bio-reducing agent in
the production of pig iron and steel in part of its integrated
mills. Gerdau operates two iron ore mines and has one active
upstream tailings dam in Ouro Preto, but expects to complete the
deposition of dry tailings and the process of de-characterization
by 2021.

RATING OUTLOOK

The stable outlook reflects our expectation that the company will
prudently manage its liquidity and expenses overtime to preserve
its metrics and credit quality amid volatility in its key
end-markets.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OR DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS

Negative pressure on the rating or outlook could result from a
severe deterioration in market conditions that lead to weaker
liquidity or persistently high leverage, with total debt to EBITDA
above 3x on a sustainable basis (2.6x in 2020), and interest
coverage (EBIT to interest expense) below 4x (5.4x in 2020). A
deterioration in volumes and margins in Gerdau's main markets
(namely Brazil and the US), affecting its ability to generate
positive free cash flow or limited flexibility for capex and
dividend reduction could trigger a downgrade. A sharp deterioration
in the controlling shareholders' (Metalurgica Gerdau) financial
position or a downgrade of Brazil's (Ba2 stable) sovereign rating
could also lead to a downgrade of Gerdau's ratings.
An upgrade of the ratings could occur if Gerdau is able to sustain
profitability, as measured by EBIT margin, at high single digit
(13.3% in 2020), while improving liquidity and leverage further,
with total adjusted debt to EBITDA of around 2x and EBIT to
interest expense above 5.5x on a sustained basis. The maintenance
of conservative financial policies would also be required for a
rating upgrade. Finally, an upgrade of Gerdau's ratings would
require an upgrade of Brazil's sovereign ratings and long-term
visibility of Brazil's economic strength, or reduced exposure to
the country's domestic fundamentals.

The principal methodology used in these ratings was Steel Industry
published in September 2017.

Based in Brazil, Gerdau S.A. (Gerdau) is the leading producer of
long steel in the Americas and one of the largest suppliers of
special long steel in the world, with total capacity of over 20
million tons per year of crude steel and 16.7 million tons per year
of rolled products. Its US subsidiary, Gerdau Ameristeel
Corporation (Gerdau Ameristeel), is the second-largest long steel
producer in North America. In 2020, Gerdau reported consolidated
annual revenue of BRL43.8 billion ($8.6 billion converted by the
average exchange rate). The group has operations in 10 countries,
with relevant market shares in Brazil, the US, Canada, Peru,
Uruguay, Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela, along with joint ventures
in Colombia, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.



===============
C O L O M B I A
===============

COLOMBIA: IDB to Provide $1.25 Billion in Assistance in 2021
------------------------------------------------------------
At its 2021 Annual Meeting, the Inter-American Development Bank
(IDB) signed a commitment with the government of Colombia to
provide the country with $1.25 billion in assistance in 2021. The
funding will contribute to Colombia's sustainable and inclusive
economic recovery.

The signing ceremony was attended by Colombia's Minister of Finance
and Public Credit, Alberto Carrasquilla; Colombia's National
Planning Department Director, Luis Alberto Rodríguez; the IDB's
Andean Group Country Department Manager, Tomas Bermudez; and the
IDB's Representative in Colombia, Ignacio Corlazzoli. From the IDB,
also present were Benigno Lopez, Vice President for Sectors;
Richard Martínez, Vice President for Countries; James Scriven, CEO
of IDB Invest and Irene Arias, CEO of IDB Lab.

The resources will contribute to funding Colombia's General Budget
for this fiscal year and will support specific investment projects
in the areas of digital transformation of justice, logistics, and
public-private partnerships. Additionally, the funding will support
Colombia's public-policy efforts in the fields of migration and
sustainable growth, as well as two initiatives of the Office of the
Comptroller General, Colpensiones and Bancóldex.

"For Colombia, the IDB is a key partner in terms of access to
funding and technical assistance," Minister Carrasquilla said. "We
always prioritize strategic initiatives for our country's
development in bilateral conversations. This year, the IDB's
support will be instrumental to push forward our economic recovery
agenda. The credit program we have formalized, involving
public-sector lending, is a clear example."

Projects in the pipeline include a $600 million budget-support
program to bolster the country's public-policy agenda for green
growth and sustainable development. The effort represents a
milestone, as it is the first time an operation of this nature is
simultaneously articulated with a policy dialogue and coordinated
with other co-financiers. Joint financing will total nearly $1.2
billion.

In recognition of Colombia's important steps to manage migration,
including the recent approval of the Temporary Statute of
Protection for Venezuelan Migrants, the IDB, in coordination with
the World Bank, will support the country's public-policy agenda in
this area and contribute to advancing dialogue and the support of
the international community.

The Justice System's digital transformation will be at the core of
a second, already-structured program. This program will aim at
increasing the effectiveness, efficiency, and transparency of
Colombia's Justice System.

The IDB's financial support to Barranquilla in 2022 for the
execution of its Development Plan was also ratified on the
sidelines of the Annual Meeting. Support will focus on investment
areas associated with biodiversity and urban equality. In
association with the Spanish Agency for International Development
Cooperation (AECID), this program will immediately begin to
structure actions to facilitate access to services and improvements
in quality; improve public spaces and housing; incorporate
biodiversity into urban development; and achieve environmental
cleanliness of the city's watersheds.

The contract for a $150 million healthcare loan approved in 2020
will also be signed today. The loan will help boost the efficiency
of the government's healthcare-insurance spending and improve the
General Health and Social Security System's capabilities and
sustainability in terms of coverage, equality, and financial
protection. This operation, whose disbursements will be made on a
results basis, will be the first of its kind between Colombia and
the IDB. Through this credit, $9.6 million in additional
non-reimbursable resources will be leveraged to fund the healthcare
needs of migrants. These resources will proceed from the IDB's
Non-Reimbursable Facility and from a EUR2 million grant from the
Government of Germany.

Separately, the execution phase begins today for a $50 million
project to support Colombian teens and youth in the development of
21st-century skills under the program Sacúdete, signed in late
2020. Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez, First Lady María
Juliana Ruiz, IDB President Mauricio Claver-Carone, and IDB
Executive Director for Colombia and Peru Sergio Díaz Granados will
attend the ceremony this afternoon.



===================================
D O M I N I C A N   R E P U B L I C
===================================

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Injects DOP767MM+ to Agriculture in Six Months
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dominican Today reports that the Minister of Agriculture, Limber
Cruz, affirmed that in the province of San Juan, the government
injected 767 million 415 thousand pesos to boost agricultural
production in the last six months.

While giving the speech of order, during a meeting led by President
Luis Abinader with the agricultural producers of the province, at
the City Hall, the Minister said that it is not a promise but a
reality that food security is guaranteed, since the country is sown
from one end to the other, according to Dominican Today.

He specified that in support of the country's producers, 67 million
pesos had been invested in seeds and seedlings; 45 million in
inter-parcel roads; 90 million 400 thousand inland labelings;
another 150 million in support to commercialization; 203 million in
financing at zero rates which benefited more than 600 producers and
493 million at other rates, the report notes.

Minister Cruz said that to provide water to the plots that need it,
Agriculture allocated 54 million pesos to construct reservoirs and
water wells; and 15 million in modern equipment to detect precisely
where the precious liquid is, the report relays.

                         Other Contributions

To continue promoting agriculture in San Juan, President Abinader
declared a state of emergency in this demarcation due to the levels
of poverty and deterioration of its resources, the report relays.
The Government will execute an integrated development project with
an investment of more than four billion pesos, the report notes.

As part of the state intervention in this province, special
incentives will be given for agricultural production under
greenhouses in the municipalities of San Juan, Bohechio, El
Cercado, Juan de Herrera, Las Matas de Farfan and Vallejuelo, the
report discloses.

The construction and reconstruction of local roads, health centers,
and drinking water systems for which the National Institute of
Drinking Water and Sewerage (INAPA) contemplates an investment of
about one billion pesos, the report adds.

                    About Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean nation that shares the island
of Hispaniola with Haiti to the west. Capital city Santo Domingo
has Spanish landmarks like the Gothic Catedral Primada de America
dating back 5 centuries in its Zona Colonial district. Luis Rodolfo
Abinader Corona is the current president of the nation.

The Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America reported in April 2019
that the Dominican Today related that Juan Del Rosario of the UASD
Economic Faculty cited a current economic slowdown for the
Dominican Republic and cautioned that if the trend continues,
growth would reach only 4% by 2023. Mr. Del Rosario said that if
that happens, "we'll face difficulties in meeting international
commitments."

An ongoing concern in the Dominican Republic is the inability of
participants in the electricity sector to establish financial
viability for the system.

Fitch Ratings on Jan. 18, assigned a 'BB-' rating to Dominican
Republic's USD1.5 billion 5.3% notes due Jan. 21, 2041.
Concurrently, the Dominican Republic reopened its 2030 4.5% notes
for an additional USD1.0 billion, which Fitch rates 'BB-', raising
the total outstanding amount of the 2030 notes to USD2.0 billion.

Standard & Poor's, on December 4, 2020, affirmed its 'BB-'
long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on
the Dominican Republic. The outlook remains negative. S&P also
affirmed its 'B' short-term sovereign credit ratings. The negative
outlook reflects S&P's view that it could lower the ratings on the
Dominican Republic over the next six to 18 months, given the severe
impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sovereign's already
vulnerable fiscal and external profiles, as well as the potential
for a weaker-than-expected economic recovery.

Moody's credit rating for Dominican Republic was last set at Ba3
with stable outlook (July 2017). Fitch's credit rating for
Dominican Republic was last reported at BB- with negative outlook
(May 8, 2020).



===========
M E X I C O
===========

OPERADORA DE SERVICIOS: S&P Affirms 'BB-' Rating on Add-On Notes
-----------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings affirmed its 'BB-' issue-level rating on
Operadora de Servicios Mega S.A. de C.V. SOFOM E.R.'s (GFMEGA)
senior unsecured notes after the company's proposed $150 million
add-on to its original $350 million notes, issued in the first
quarter of 2020. The company will use the increased amount to
finance business growth. Additionally, GFMEGA will continue with
its current hedging strategy by covering interest and half of the
principal with a full cross-currency swap (CCS) for the whole term
and hedging the other half with a cancellable call spread to limit
currency risk.

The 'BB-' issue-level rating is at the same level as the long-term
global scale issuer credit rating. This reflects that the notes
will rank equally in right of payment with all GFMEGA's existing
and future senior unsecured debt. S&P does not subordinate the
issue, since it expects the firm's priority debt (secured debt)
will represent less than 15% of adjusted assets for the next 12
months and unencumbered assets will comfortably cover more than 1x
its rated unsecured debt (including the proposed debt issuance).

The debt increase doesn't affect the company's funding assessment.
GFMEGA's funding mix will remain highly concentrated in a single
unsecured market bond, which after the reopening of the $150
million, will represent 64% of its total funding, from 60% as of
December 2020. In our opinion, it will be a challenge for the
company to diversify its funding structure by obtaining new
unsecured banking lines, new market issuances, or other means of
funding, which would reduce the current concentration. Finally, the
firm's liquidity levels remained comfortable, reflected in its base
and stress scenarios that forecast GFMEGA's cash flow to remain
positive.

S&P said, "Our ratings on GFMEGA reflect continued improvements in
its business position, which should prevent its credit quality from
deteriorating despite a lower risk-adjusted capital (RAC) ratio. In
our view, the firm's continued efforts to broaden
diversification--in terms of geography, business lines, clients,
and economic sectors--will provide business and revenue stability.
We expect GFMEGA's improved business position to provide
flexibility, making it less vulnerable to the current economic
downturn than its peers with the same business risk assessment."

  Ratings List

  Ratings Affirmed

  Operadora de Servicios Mega, S.A. de C.V. SOFOM, E.R.
   
   Senior Unsecured    BB-




=====================
P U E R T O   R I C O
=====================

LIBERTY COMMUNICATIONS: S&P Rates New 1st-Lien Term Loan B-2 'B+'
-----------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings assigned its 'B+' issue-level rating to Liberty
Communications of Puerto Rico LLC's (LCPR) proposed $500 million
first-lien term loan B-2 issued by LCPR Loan Financing LLC and
$820 million senior secured notes issued by LCPR Senior Secured
Financing DAC. The recovery rating for the proposed debt is '3',
which indicates its expectation for meaningful recovery (50%-70%;
rounded estimate: 55%) in a simulated default. LCPR will use
proceeds from the secured term loan and senior secured debt to
repay $1 billion of its first-lien term loan B due in 2026,
upstream $250 million to the parent, and pay transaction-related
fees and expenses.

S&P said, "Our 'B+' issuer credit rating is unchanged because we
believe that despite the incremental increase in financial
leverage, the company has a credible deleveraging path through
higher earnings, driven by solid growth expectations from LCPR's
cable business. Subsequent to the refinancing, we estimate S&P
Global Ratings-adjusted debt to EBITDA will increase to about 5x
from about mid-4.5x in 2020, pro forma for a full year's EBITDA
from the AT&T mobile acquisition. While leverage will be at our
downgrade trigger of 5x initially, we project mid-single-digit
percentage organic EBITDA growth in should allow the company to
reduce this ratio to about 4x by the end of 2022. Our forecast
incorporates our expectation that most of the $70 million in
projected synergies (largely network core and information
technology-related cost savings) are back-ended. Therefore,
improvement in credit metrics will accelerate in 2022-2023 while
2021 EBITDA will include moderate costs to achieve synergies
resulting in debt-to-EBITDA in the high-4x area."

ISSUE RATINGS RECOVERY ANALYSIS

Key analytical factors

-- S&P applies a combination approach to estimate value from
LCPR's wireless and wireline businesses. For the wireless business,
it uses a discrete asset value (DAV) that aggregates AT&T's
spectrum licenses and discounted network assets (we apply a 75%
haircut to network assets). S&P then combines this value with a
cash flow multiple approach for LCPR's cable business to derive an
enterprise value of about $1.66 billion.

-- S&P's default scenario assumes a natural disaster or heightened
price competition in both wireless and high-speed data services
that results in subscriber losses and decreased average revenue per
user, coupled with weakness in the Puerto Rican economy. This
accelerates churn such that LCPR cannot meet its fixed charges,
including interest expense, required amortization, and maintenance
capital expenditure.

-- Other default assumptions include LIBOR of 2.5% at default, an
85% draw on the revolver, and all debt including six months of
prepetition interest.

Simulated default assumptions

-- Simulated year of default: 2025
-- EBITDA at emergence: $105 million
-- EBITDA multiple: 6x
-- DAV: $1 billion

Simplified waterfall

-- Net enterprise value (after 5% administrative costs): $1.6
billion

-- Collateral value available to secured creditors: $1.6 billion

-- Secured first-lien debt: $2.8 billion

    --Recovery expectations: 50%-70% (rounded estimate: 55%)


                           *********


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 2021.  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
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Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to
be reliable, but is not guaranteed.

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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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