Decipher Index

Immigration and Migration tops this week’s rankings due to multiple factors, with U.S. President Biden’s administration saying Mexico has increased their assistance on the border in an attempt to slow migration. Mexico is stopping almost three times as many migrants now compared to before. The Panamanian President-elect Mulino recently vowed to stop migrants headed to the U.S. via the Darien Gap, a significant corridor for illegal aliens making their way north. Deadly floods in southern Brazil have also sparked concern among national and regional leaders of potential climate migration due to rising river levels.

Some notably higher movers this week include Business and China as a result of Latin American countries increasingly open to cooperation with China in the new-energy sector, notably solar, wind, hydropower, electric vehicles, and mining for strategic materials. There has been a higher number of smaller Chinese investment and infrastructure projects which indicates a move away from large infrastructure projects like those seen under the Belt and Road Initiative. Business and China ties in with Global Economy, another high mover, as the Biden administration cites Chinese EVs made in Mexico as a top trade concern. Moreover, Argentina cut interest rates again as yearly inflation peaks to just under 300%. Business in Russia is another high mover as a result of Russia discovering a large number of oil and gas reserves in the British Antarctic territory; most of the territory is subject to competing claims from Argentina and Chile which will likely escalate tensions between all of the countries if the evidence Russia presents is proven true and complicate business dealings in Russia for those countries. Relatedly, Russia and Brazil also increased bilateral trade in April, reaching $1.5 billion.