The November 2006 regional economic outlook report of IMF has positive things to say about the latamerican economies, like the recent reports of other sources. Highlights:
- robust growth of Latamerican and caribbean economies around 4.75 percent in 2006- making the ongoing expansion as the most vigorous in decades. Growth rate in 2007 projected to be 4.25%.
- Domestic demand is buyont, driven by public spending, private consumption and investment
- Inflation in 2006 will average to 5.25% and is likely to decline to 5% in 2007. countries with high inflation in 2006; Argentina 10.9%, venezuela 13.7%, costa Rica 13% and Haiti 14%
- external current accounts and primary fiscal balance are in surplus, exchange rates flexible and public debts safer
- Exports booming adding to trade surplus in many countries
- Reserves reached 300 billion dollars in 2006
- unemployment and poverty have been declining.
- IMF's assistance to the region fell dramatically from about 18 billion dollars per year in 2002-3 to just 0.5 billion dollars in 2006. outstanding credit to the region decreased from 48 billion $ in end 2003 to 3.1 billion in july 2006.
Of course, these are subject to the usual risks including growth and interest rates in USA and commodity prices.
No comments:
Post a Comment