LATIN AMERICA RANKS LAST IN ECONOMIC GROWTH AMONG WORLD'S DEVELOPING REGIONS.
The rate of economic growth in Latin America is slowing down and is the lowest of the world's developing regions, according to international financial institutions. Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released reports showing the region has broken out of the zero-growth rate that hit the region in 2002 but has on average lagged behind the rates experienced in the past decade by other developing regions like Africa.
Growth projected to slow down to 4.3% in 2006, 3.6% in 2007
On April 24 the IMF released its World Economic Outlook in which it predicted that the region would grow economically by about 4.3% in 2006 and 3.6% in 2007, following growth rates of 5.4% in 2004 and 5.9% in 2005. The fund publishes its World Economic Outlook reports in April and September of each year.
The World Bank confirmed the IMF projections, finding that Latin America has the world's lowest projections for 2006 and 2007 when compared with other regions. For Africa, the region that has historically been considered a no-growth area, the figures for those years are 5.7% and 5.5%, respectively. For Eastern Europe they are 5.2% and 4.8%, and for developing countries in Asia they are 8.2% and 8%.
The Western Hemisphere has been undergoing positive growth since 2003, when there was a combined 2.2% upward tendency, beating the zero growth of the prior year, according to the multilateral lending institutions.
The World Bank says that, in the last 10-year period (1995-2004), Latin America was surpassed even by sub-Saharan African nations, where there was an average development increase of 3.4% and an increase of 0.9% in per capita income. By comparison, Latin America went through a decade of only 2.1% growth and an increase of 0.6% in per capita income, according to figures given by the World Bank Development Committee, which closed its meeting of finance ministers and presidents of central banks from the institution's 184 member nations on April 23.
Mexico, the region's largest economic power representing about 33% of Latin America's GDP, had the highest annual growth in that decade with an average of 3.6%. Brazil, the region's second-largest economy, saw 2% average growth in the ten-year period, while Argentina barely stayed above zero-growth levels with a 0.1% average.
The World Bank noted that the more recent trends have been positive for the region. In 2003 and 2004, Argentine growth was about 9% annually and continued on a sustained upward...
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