By Gustavo Adler, Ilan Goldfajn, and Anna Ivanova Español, Português The region continued its strong recovery in early 2022, but decelerating economic activity and persistent inflation will test its resilience. The economies of Latin America and the Caribbean have continued their strong post-pandemic rebound, but the winds are shifting as global financial conditions are tightening and commodity prices are reversing their upward trend, while inflationary pressures persist. The reopening of contact-intensive sectors, especially hospitality and travel, the unwinding of pandemic pent-up deman ..read more

By Ilan Goldfajn, Anna Ivanova and Jorge Roldos Governments will need to combine fighting inflation with structural policies that reignite growth. Economies in Latin American and the Caribbean are losing steam after making a strong comeback last year. After a dramatic economic collapse in 2020, growth in the region rebounded to an estimated 6.8 percent, driven by robust trading partners growth, higher commodity prices, and favorable external financing conditions. On the domestic front, progress on vaccinations, continued fiscal support in some countries (e.g. Chile and Colombia) and accumulate ..read more

by Maximiliano Appendino Español Inflation has surged in the largest economies of Latin America, prompting large central banks in the region to raise interest rates before economic activity has fully recovered. Our latest Regional Economic Outlook shows how rapidly inflation is rising. In the first year of the pandemic, average inflation in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru—the LA5—was below the average for other emerging market economies. It’s now higher, averaging 8 percent year-on-year in October and in the case of Brazil, surpassing 10.5 percent. Soaring food prices are partly driv ..read more

By Alejandro Werner, Takuji Komatsuzaki, and Carlo Pizzinelli Español Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean recovered briskly in the second half of 2020, yet still more slowly than the global economy and other emerging markets. That’s despite unprecedented policy support, strong performance of trading partners, soaring commodity prices and accommodative global financial conditions. The persistence of the health crisis in many countries casts a shadow on the near-term outlook. People and economies continue to require a short-term shot to exit from the COVID-19 crisis, while the aggravation ..read more

By Alejandro Werner  Español, Português As of today, about 3,000 people have died from the COVID-19 virus in Latin America and the Caribbean. While the pandemic continues to spread across the region, countries are facing the worst economic recession since countries started producing national accounts statistics in the 1950s. The challenging external environment, coupled with much-needed measures to contain the pandemic, have led to a plummeting of economic activity across Latin America—where growth is poised to contract by 5.2 percent in 2020. Given the dramatic contraction in 2020 and as ..read more

This blog is the first in a series providing regional analysis on the effects of the coronavirus. By Alejandro Werner عربي, 中文, Español,  Français, 日本語, Português, Русский COVID-19 is spreading very quickly. This is no longer a regional issue—it is a challenge calling for a global response. Countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have been hit later than other regions from the pandemic and therefore have a chance to flatten the curve of contagion. Efforts on multiple fronts to achieve this goal are underway. In addition to strengthening health policy responses, many countries in the ..read more

By IMFBlog The decade is over and with it goes another year of insightful, thought-provoking, and dare we say clever, charts of the week brought to you by the IMF. Everyone likes a great chart, right? So to get the new year started on the right foot, take a minute and look back at what caught your eye (or what you might have missed) in 2019. Here are the top ten charts of the week for 2019, based on your readership. 1. Mapping the World’s Financial Weak Spots 2. Corruption and Your Money 3. US$100 Bill on the Rise 4. Falling Costs Make Wind, Solar More Affordable 5. Mind the Gap in SDG Fin ..read more

By Emilio Fernandez Corugedo and Jaime Guajardo Español, Português The world’s newest migration crisis is unfolding in Latin America, where Venezuela’s economic collapse and unprecedented humanitarian crisis has sparked a wave of emigration to neighboring countries. While these countries are providing helpful support to migrants in many areas, large migration flows have strained public services and labor markets in these countries. According to the Response for Venezuelans, which is a joint International Organization for Migration and UNHCR platform, the total number of migrants leaving Venezu ..read more

By Thomas F. Alexander Español The informal economy, which is economic activity that falls outside the regulated economy and tax system, such as street vending or unregistered taxi drivers, is hard to measure. People and companies engaged in the informal economy usually operate on a small scale. This means there are no official statistics on the informal or shadow economy, as it’s sometimes called, so economists need to estimate its size. Some common techniques include surveys or indirect indicators such as the demand for currency.  The size of the informal economy—measured as a share of ..read more

By IMFBlog Trade wars and inverted yield curves do not typically top the charts of your summer, beach-friendly reading list. But summer in the Northern Hemisphere has disappeared as quickly as your last strawberry daquiri, right along with your ability to remember your computer password.  Trade wars and inverted yield curves do not typically top the charts of your summer reading list. Need a hand shifting gears?  We have put together a primer of our recent blogs, each a quick read, on the state of the global economy, facts about fintech, a snapshot of countries’ debts and assets, a ..read more