The Lima Stock Exchange said Monday it has restarted the process of integration with the Chilean and Colombian exchanges, following a decision by Peru’s Congress to lower a capital-gains tax to 5%.
On Dec. 20, the stock market in Lima suspended the planned integration, adding that a failure to pass a law standardizing capital-gains taxes “generates a series of gaps and problems” that could diminish the integration project and mar its competitiveness.
On Dec. 29, Congress passed a bill to standardize capital-gains taxes at 5%. Peru’s capital-gains taxes have ranged from 5% to 30% depending on the status of the investor.
The Chilean and Colombian exchanges had said they would proceed as planned despite Peru’s suspension of talks.
Tests on integrating the three market systems, due to become the Integrated Latin American Market, or MILA, began in November, and direct trading among the three has been expected to start in late January.
If it moves ahead, MILA will become the biggest exchange in the region by listed companies, with 563. Officials have said MILA should have an initial trading volume of about $300 million a day.
In market-capitalization terms, it would become the second biggest in the region with an estimated $614 billion, compared with Brazil’s market cap of $1.5 trillion and Mexico at $388 billion. (Robert Kozak / Dow Jones Newswires)