United States-Latin America and the Caribbean Trade Developments 2022

United States trade in goods sustained the recovery that began in 2021. In the first six months of 2022, goods exports increased by 21% compared to the prior-year period, while goods imports rose by 22%. Trade in services has not fully recovered, as major service industries such as travel and transport are still experiencing the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. United States-Latin America and the Caribbean Trade Developments 2022 provides an overview of selected developments in trade relations between the United States and Latin America and the Caribbean. In light of the global focu…

United States economic outlook: third quarter of 2022

The United States economy grew by 2.9% in the third quarter of 2022, a sharp turnaround following two quarters of contraction. Trade was the main source of growth, followed by consumer spending. The labour market averaged 392,000 new jobs per month from January–November 2022, with 4.3 million new jobs created in the period. Inflation rose by 7.1% in November, the slowest 12-month pace since December 2021, closing out a year in which it climbed to the highest level in four decades. The rapid pace of price increases in 2022 added pressure on the Federal Reserve to tame inflation by raising inter…

Report on the status of the Regular System of Government Financing for the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES)

Caribbean Outlook 3: Economic recovery and repositioning in the era of COVID-19. Policy Brief

The economies of the subregion were hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly those dependent on tourism. As a result, the Caribbean has seen a reversal of the hard-won gains achieved in growing their economies and reducing unemployment and inequality. The inflation stemming from pandemic supply chain disruption, which has been exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, has made the sustained uptick in economic performance beyond pre-pandemic levels unlikely, notwithstanding strong growth estimates for 2021 and 2022. The last two years have taught the region that continued ‘business as usual’ is…

Improving broadband quality and affordability in the Caribbean: Policies to advance digital inclusion in the subregion. Policy Brief

In this digitally transforming world, digital inclusion is becoming increasingly important to social inclusion and sustainable development. Affordable access to broadband is an essential precondition to digital inclusion. Internet quality, as measured by speed and other indicators, is also important, as digital inclusion is ultimately about ensuring equal access to the benefits and opportunities offered by digital technologies and the Internet. This policy brief provides insight into Internet speed and affordability across the Caribbean, and offers some recommendations for policymakers working…

The Hummingbird Vol. 10 No. 1

Santiago Commitment (XIV Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean)

The Santiago Commitment was adopted at the fourteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Americas and the Caribbean Regional Office of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) and the Government of Chile, and held in Santiago from 27 to 31 January 2020.…

Science, technology and innovation for sustainable development: Lessons from the Caribbean’s energy transition

Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) is important in advancing sustainable development across the globe. One approach available to countries to promote their sustainable development agendas is the advancement of STI to support the adoption of renewable energy technologies. The continued reliance on fossil fuels in the Caribbean is one of the factors hindering the rate at which countries within the subregion are developing. Taking this into account, this study assesses whether the advancement of STI is driving the energy transition in the Caribbean subregion and draws lessons on how STI can…

Provisional agenda. Sixty-fourth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Bilateral modern services trade between India and Latin America and the Caribbean in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

The Information Technology enabled Services sector (also referred to as modern services) has been one of the fastest growing segments of India’s exports to and foreign direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) over the past decade. This sector also showed significant resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic, as many Indian firms were able to reinforce their digital transformation, which strengthened their growth and export potential. India’s main comparative and competitive advantages are its large educated workforce, a developed Information and communication technologies (ICT)…

Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2022

The 2022 edition of Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean examines the behavior of the region’s economies over the current year and updates estimates for growth and other economic indicators that reflect the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the region’s countries along with their subsequent recovery. Specifically, this annual report presents new Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates for the region and all of its countries in 2022 as well as projections for 2023. The document analyzes the economic and social dynamics of the year that is about to end and discu…

Building a climate resilient power sector in the context of the Caribbean small island developing States’ energy transition. Policy Brief

In Caribbean small island developing States (SIDS), electrical power outages are frequent in the aftermath of major weather events. While local service disruptions often last a few days after these events, nationwide power grid failures lasting several weeks, or months have resulted in enormous social and economic impacts. In 2017, Hurricane Maria left 90 per cent of the population of Dominica without access to electricity for over four months (Commonwealth of Dominica, 2020) and caused a systemwide collapse of Puerto Rico's power grid that took 11 months to be entirely restored (Campbell…

Capital flows to Latin America and the Caribbean: A slowdown in 2022

Against a backdrop of tightening global financing conditions and higher global borrowing costs, Latin American and Caribbean issuers placed US$ 58.5 billion in bonds on international markets from January to October 2022, around 60% less than in the same period of 2021, with an average coupon almost 1.5% higher. The region’s international issuance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) bonds followed the broader market downturn in bond activity, particularly in the corporate sector, owing to worse macroeconomic conditions; however, it showed some resilience, slowing less markedly than ov…

Ageing in Latin America and the Caribbean: inclusion and rights of older persons

In Latin America and the Caribbean, population ageing —a demographic phenomenon that is characterized by an increase in the proportion of older persons and the lengthening of the life cycle— presents both opportunities and challenges for public policy. This document presents the report of Latin America and the Caribbean for the fourth review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002. The report analyses the current situation of ageing in the region and the protection of the human rights of older persons, highlighting the institutional progress made. It examines t…

Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean: Labour productivity in Latin America

Employment Situation in Latin America and the Caribbean is a twice-yearly report prepared jointly by the Economic Development Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Office for the Southern Cone of Latin America of the International Labour Organization (ILO). The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic led to an unprecedented crisis in the region’s economies and in its labour markets, where the recovery has been slow, partial and uneven. However, as noted in the first part of this report, there were favourable changes in the main indicators of th…

Experiences in Latin America and the Caribbean with mainstreaming biodiversity in the productive, economic and financial sectors

The severity of cascading global environmental, climate, economic, social and health crises is such that they sometimes seem insurmountable. ECLAC has therefore compiled a set of best practices, drawing from cases in Latin America and the Caribbean that can serve as models to promote comprehensive structural change and improve socioeconomic and environmental well-being. This study addresses challenges, opportunities and lessons learned as to how mainstreaming biodiversity in the agriculture, fisheries, forestry, financial, manufacturing, infrastructure and tourism sectors is a catalyst for the…

Report of the first regional seminar on social development. Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: The prolonged crisis as an opportunity for restructuring

This document contains the report of the first regional seminar on social development, entitled “Education in Latin America and the Caribbean: the prolonged crisis as an opportunity for restructuring”, organized by ECLAC on 13–15 October 2021. This seminar would not have been possible without the support of the Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (OREALC/UNESCO), the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) at UNESCO Buenos Aires and the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional O…

The payment landscape of B2C e-commerce marketplaces in Latin America and the Caribbean

This paper studies the digital payments landscape of B2C e-commerce marketplaces in Latin America and the Caribbean. It presents the main characteristics of different digital payment methods, as well as their advantages and disadvantages. It also examines how digital payments contribute to financial inclusion and it describes the global and regional trends and prospects. It presents the main findings of an exhaustive analysis of payment methods accepted by more than 550 transactional marketplaces in 33 countries in LAC. It also examines the main obstacles to development of digital payments in …

The Latin American regulatory environment for digital trade

The volume of trade in digitally enabled services in Latin America and the Caribbean is determined, in part, by the complexity and heterogeneity of the regulatory environment in home and destination markets, according to firm-level surveys conducted in the region. This report analyses the regulation of digitally enabled and computer services in 13 Latin American countries using the Digital Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (DSTRI) and the Services Trade Restrictiveness Index for computer services (CSSTRI) developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The re…

Potential trade implications of Latin America and the Caribbean’s climate commitments under the Paris Agreement

This paper investigates Latin America and Caribbean (LAC)’s nationally determined contributions (NDCs) and their potential implications for the region’s balance of payments. The first section summarizes prevailing trade dynamics, finding that in LAC, exports of raw materials help to cover the cost of importing capital goods. The second section turns to the region’s NDCs to identify policies affecting import expenditure. The third section employs a similar methodology on the export side, tallying policies affecting output and global cost competitiveness in key sectors (crops, livestock, timber,…