These are difficult times for Latin American economies. The region was hit harder than most by Covid and as an exporter of prime materials its always hit by any slowdown in the global economy. There is a lot of political uncertainty in the region . No more so than in Peru, where president Pedro Castillo was recently ousted from office after he illegally tried to close congress and rule by decree. He's now in pre-trial detention while he's investigated for fomenting rebellion, a charge he denies. He's been replaced by fellow leftist Dina Boluarte, who's vowed to try to revive Peru's economy.

Russia's second-largest oil producer Lukoil has reached an agreement to sell its ISAB oil refinery in Sicily to G.O.I. ENERGY. Lukoil had no choice but to sell it as they couldn't sell oil products this year. The European Union has imposed a partial embargo on Russian crude oil and petroleum products, as well as a ban on shipping insurance for oil exports from Russia.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for the failed cryptocurrency firm, FTX, says his team has salvaged more than five billion dollars in assets following the company’s spectacular collapse in November. Andrew Dietderich told a US bankruptcy court (in Delaware) that efforts to sell other assets with a book value of more than four billion dollars were in hand -- but warned the final hit to nine million investors remained unclear.

(Picture: Mature man and a young man sitting with a groom, Taquile Island, Lake Titicaca, Puno, Peru. Picture Credit: Getty Images)