Business and Economics > Production and Operations Management
Abstract
Over the past fifteen years countries in Latin America made tremendous progress in strengthening their economies and improving living standards. Although output fell temporarily during the global financial crisis, most economies staged a rapid recovery. However, economic activity across the region has been cooling off and the region is facing a more challenging period ahead. This book argues that Latin America can rise to the challenge, and policymakers in the region are already implementing reforms in education, energy, and other sectors. More is needed, and more is possible, in Latin America’s quest to continue to improve living standards.
Abstract
El año pasado el Hemisferio Occidental tuvo un sólido desempeño económico, a pesar de que en los últimos trimestres el crecimiento de Estados Unidos fue más lento. ¿Se pueden mantener estos resultados, y qué desafÃos enfrenta la región? Al examinar las perspectivas y los riesgos macroeconómicos, este informe presta especial atención a la influencia del contexto externo en América Latina, y aborda la cuestión de si América Latina ha logrado dejar atrás su historial de retrocesos periódicos del crecimiento.
Abstract
The past year has been one of strong economic performance for the Western Hemisphere, notwithstanding somewhat slower growth in the United States in recent quarters. Can this performance be sustained, and what challenges does the region face? Reviewing macroeconomic prospects and risks, this report pays particular attention to the influence of the external environment on Latin America, and addresses the question of whether Latin America has now succeeded in breaking with its history of periodic growth reversals.
Abstract
This Western Hemisphere Regional Economic Outlook covers the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The report reviews recent economic developments, discusses the economic outlook, and outlines risks and challenges ahead.
Abstract
This paper summarizes the authorities’ stabilization efforts, how these efforts were subsequently reinforced by certain key structural reforms, and other related developments that help explain the remarkable performance of the Dominican Republic’s economy in the 1990s during which the country achieved one of the highest output growth rates in Latin America, combined with low inflation, and a much improved external debt profile. The authorities often resorted to external arrears as a means of financing the external current account deficits of the 1980s. Although rescheduling agreements were reached with the international banking community and with the Paris Club of official creditors in the mid-1980s, they met with limited success until the authorities embarked on their stabilization program of the early 1990s. Large and persistent fiscal deficits represented a significant burden for monetary policy. Although at the beginning of the decade more than half of the public deficit was financed by foreign loans, episodes of default on external and domestic government debt led to a progressive drying up of these sources of financing.