Colombia’s fuel subsidies, Brazil’s presidential race

The commitment of Colombia’s new administration to address costly energy subsidies is the fiscally responsible thing to do, but it will come at the expense of exacerbating the country’s inflation problem. Elsewhere, policymakers in Argentina are making an effort to stick to the country's latest IMF deal. But we doubt that this will avoid the need for another sovereign debt restructuring in the second half of this decade. Finally, in Brazil, while the polls suggest that the presidential race is narrowing, Lula still appears to be the clear favourite.