Port report 2023–2024: mixed signals in trade and ports and new disruptions to international container shipping logistics

This report analyses the state of international maritime trade and port activity for the period 2023–2024. It highlights recovery trends, structural challenges and new disruptions impacting the sector. Consistent with the analysis in the previous report, this report examines the effects of global events, such as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and persistent geopolitical tensions, the repercussions of which continue to impact supply chains. It also identifies emerging trends in logistics management and factors behind fluctuations in port activity and provides an analysis of the mar…

Provisional agenda. Sixteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Measuring the digital society to advance digital inclusion in the Caribbean

Caribbean policymakers and regulators are grappling with the challenges and opportunities associated with the digital transformation, and seeking to develop inclusive, evidence-based policies suited to Caribbean realities. Realizing the need for data related to the digital transformation, efforts are ongoing across the subregion to improve measurement systems and agree on common indicators to enable national and subregional action. One of the outcomes of a 2023 subregional workshop on the measurement of the digital society to advance digital inclusion was a draft list of subregional priorities…

Capital flows to Latin America and the Caribbean: 2024 year-in-review and early 2025 developments

Latin American and Caribbean bond issuance in international markets amounted to US$ 121.8 billion in 2024, 36% higher than in 2023 and the strongest figure in three years. The average coupon rate, at 7.1%, was slightly above the 2023 level of 6.9%, indicating that financing costs remain elevated. Although the market was still open to high-yield issuers, investment grade bonds accounted for 57% of the region’s issuance. In 2024, issuance of green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked (GSSS) bonds on international markets climbed by 6% relative to 2023, to a total of US$ 33.1 billi…

Relations between Latin America and the Caribbean and China: areas of opportunity for more productive, inclusive and sustainable development

This document is a contribution by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to discussions of the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC). It describes the areas of opportunity for advancing towards a common cooperation agenda that fosters more productive, inclusive and sustainable development It draws on the ECLAC analysis of the development traps facing the region and the strategies to overcome them through a set of vital transformations and a new generation of productive development policie…

Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2024

Latin America and the Caribbean is caught in a trap of low capacity for growth, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The region’s economies are projected to expand by 2.2% and 2.4% in 2024 and 2025, respectively. Although these figures are above the 2015–2024 average of 1.0%, they are insufficient to close the gap with the economies of developed countries. The 2024 and 2025 international context is one of highly uncertain financial and trade conditions and slowing growth for the region’s main trading partners. Domestic macroeconomic policy space rem…

Report of the sixty-sixth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

Report of the Thirtieth meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Council for Planning of the Latin American and Caribbean Institute for Economic and Social Planning (ILPES)

Unleashing sustainable growth: financing green productive development policies in Latin America and the Caribbean

Financing the transition to a green economy in Latin America and the  Caribbean demands innovative approaches to address the region’s significant investment gap, estimated at 7%–11% of GDP annually by 2050. This publication focuses on the financial strategies underpinning green productive development policies, which make up a transformative and comprehensive framework that integrates economic goals with environmental sustainability. Key insights include strategies to reallocate subsidies, lower capital costs and foster private sector investment through blended finance and institutional capital…

Summary of the Chair. Eighth meeting of the Forum of the Countries of Latin America and the Caribbean on Sustainable Development

Examining educational inequality across the economic life cycle in Brazil on the basis of 2018 national transfer accounts

This study examines educational inequality throughout the economic life cycle in Brazil on the basis of age-disaggregated data from 2018 national transfer accounts and household heads’ education levels. The analysis confirms patterns observed two decades ago, revealing marked disparities in the life cycle deficit —the gap between labour income and consumption— across education groups. Young people in less educated households rely heavily on public transfers to meet their consumption needs. Meanwhile, older persons across all education groups depend heavily on public transfers. With declining c…

Agreements. Twenty-fourth meeting of the Executive Committee of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Evaluation of the Strategic Plan, 2015–2025 and proposed thematic areas for the Strategic Plan, 2026–2035

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Regional Gender Agenda in Latin America and the Caribbean: gender indicators up to 2024

Latin America and the Caribbean has made considerable efforts to achieve gender equality. Now the region must consolidate advances and fulfil commitments by accelerating progress towards substantive equality and the full exercise of rights for all women and girls. This document analyses the gender indicators for monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, in synchrony with the Regional Gender Agenda of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. It focuses on Goals 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 17. Achieving more productive, inclusive and sustainable de…

Bridges for gender equality between Latin America and the Caribbean and Germany: Criteria and priorities for a regional feminist development cooperation policy

Bridges for gender equality between Latin America and the Caribbean and Germany: Criteria and priorities for a regional feminist development cooperation policy presents the outcomes of the project “Success criteria for a feminist development cooperation policy specific to Latin America and the Caribbean” developed under the Strategic Alliance between the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) and carried out by the ECLAC Division for Gender  Affairs and the  Deutsche Gesellschaft für Int…

The role of trade and transport infrastructure in food security in Latin America and the Caribbean

This FAL Bulletin analyses the role of trade and transport infrastructure in food security in Latin America and the Caribbean. It identifies the main challenges and opportunities for ensuring equitable and sustainable access to food in the region. It also includes strategic recommendations to strengthen the contribution of trade, especially intraregional trade, to regional food security.…

Second report on the implementation of the Biennial programme of regional and international cooperation activities, 2024–2025, of the Statistical Conference of the Americas of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Effects of countercyclical policies on women’s and men’s incomes during the COVID-19 pandemic: a gender analysis of personal taxes and transfers in Colombia, Ecuador and the Plurinational State of Bolivia

At the fourteenth session of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, just weeks before the onset of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the region’s governments undertook to “implement gender-sensitive countercyclical policies, in order to mitigate the impact of economic crises”. Against this backdrop, this document analyses the impact that taxes and transfers targeted to households and their members had on the disposable income of women and men between 2019 and 2020 in Colombia, Ecuador and the Plurinational State of Bolivia —countries for which harmonize…

Scaling up and improving productive development policies: 113 recommendations for Latin America and the Caribbean

In September 2024, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) presented the first edition of its new flagship publication Panorama of Productive Development Policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, 2024.1 This document fills a gap in the Commission’s catalogue of publications, which until now has not featured a regular publication addressing one of its flagship themes over the years: productive development. This report is even more important in the context of the recent ECLAC statement that Latin America and the Caribbean faces three development traps: weak capacit…

Economic Survey of the Caribbean 2023

This survey examines the economic performance of economies of the Caribbean in 2022 and the first few months of 2023 and comprises five chapters. The first chapter gives an overview of global, regional and subregional economic performance in the Caribbean. The second provides an analysis of the subregion’s fiscal performance and debt burden. The third looks at monetary policy and their impacts. The fourth is focused on the external sector, while the fifth concludes.…