Peru, Colombia, and Chile will formally merge their stock markets Today. This action will create the second-largest bourse in Latin America after Brazil and promising to increase liquidity in the mineral-rich Andean region.
“There’s a clear difference in policy organization in this group of countries,” says economic analyst Sebastian Guevara of Apoyo Consultaría, a Lima-based research company. “There’s a conscious effort to encourage integration between these like-minded countries.”
For Peru, the launch of the regional bourse, named the Mercado Integrado Latino Americano (MILA), has special significance, coming days ahead of a presidential run-off that pits right-leaning Keiko Fujimori against left-leaning Ollanta Humala, who has in the past campaigned with Mr. Chávez.
