Resumen En 2010, la matriz energética de los países de la región debería mostrar una participación mínima de 10% de fuentes renovables en la Oferta Total de Energía Primaria (OTEP). Así lo estipula la Iniciativa Latinoamericana y Caribeña para el Desarrollo Sostenible, presentada y aprobada en la Primera Reunión Extraordinaria del Foro de Ministros de Medio Ambiente de América Latina y el Caribe, Johannesburgo, agosto de 2002. El objetivo de la Iniciativa no se orienta a penalizar a los países que tienen condiciones naturales menos favorables en términos de sostenibilidad energética,…
Special Issue: Preliminay Overview of the Economies of Latin America and theCaribbean, 2002 Regional Outlook Op-ed by José Antonio Ocampo, ECLAC's Executive Secretary. The Latin American Economy: A Change in Direction? The External Sector Proposals for Restructuring Foreign Debt Macroeconomic Policy Domestic Performance Statistical Appendix Recent Titles Calendar of Events…
Discusses the objectives behind export promotional policies, their methods, and the benefits to be derived. Describes, analyses and assesses export promotional polices in the case of CARICOM Caribbean economies. Examines the physical and institutional context, and instruments for export promotional policies, and the analyses their implications and
impact.…
The liberalization of Maritime Transport is one important element to increase the export competitiveness of a country. In fact, studies remark that, for some countries, the effective rate of protection by the costs of transport is much higher than that of tariffs. One of the most relevant elements in the determination of the costs of maritime transport refers to the efficient management of ports. The global trend towards trade liberalization and integration and economic interdependence led Latin American countries to opt for programs of economic reforms that incorporated the participation of d…
Social protection systems have to cope with large
discrepancies between the financing needed to cover demand
and the resources actually available. For this reason, it is
necessary for any reform proposal to include elements of
cost restraint as well as measures to increase the population
coverage of systems. Efficiency and solidarity must improve
together if progress is to be made towards universality of
benefits. Any reform strategy needs to consider not only the
financial constraints imposed by the macroeconomy, but also
the heavy drain on financial resources and the effects on the
fiscal ac…
This document was presented as a background study for the discussion at the meeting of experts on Globalization, technological change and gender equity (São Paulo, Brazil, 5-6 November 2001), organized by the Women and Development Unit together with the International Trade Division of ECLAC and the Centre for Women's Studies and Social Gender Relations of the University of São Paulo. It is clear from the text that the new technologies are taking us into a dizzy time of new exclusions, and that in addition to being a material reality they are also a discursive product with effects on…
Introduction The study of trade and integration (LC/CAR/G.681) between the Netherlands Antilles and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) was undertaken to assess the nature and extent of trade between the two groups of countries as well as the institutional framework for facilitating such trade. In addition, the study considered integration options for increasing trade, in particular Netherlands Antilles exports to CARICOM. Assessment of the export structures of the two groups revealed similarity in goods and services produced but a more diversified export structure in the case of CARICOM. Th…
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Subregional
Headquarters for the Caribbean embarked on a project Development of a Subregional
Marine-based Tourism Strategy in 2001. The project, co-funded by the Government of
the Netherlands, is aimed at the development of sustainable yachting tourism in the
Eastern Caribbean and focuses on the island arc from the British Virgin Islands in the
north to Trinidad and Tobago in the south.
The project includes the conduct of national studies in the British Virgin Islands, St.
Maarten, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Luci…
Describes the Caribbean Trade Statistics Database, explaining the reasons for its creation. Identifies its functions and capabilities. Outlines the process of design, listing the design considerations. Provides detailed instructions for navigation of the system. Presents an overview of the current content of the database. Provides a reference guide of terms used in the analysis of trade indicators.…
Brazil's electoral outlook and the external backdrop were the main drivers of Latin American credits in the third quarter of 2002, thus the performance of Latin American markets continued to be pressured by Brazil's fate and the ebb and flow of investors' risk appetite. The region had a rare month of outperformance in August, as the prompt negotiation of an IMF agreement for Brazil and the moderation of global risk aversion brought strong returns for Brazil, in particular, and for countries considered high-risks in general. However, risk aversion peaked again in September, retur…
For the last two decades, microfinance has ranked high on
the list of policy instruments for fighting poverty. Supporting
the creation of access to formal financial services for low-income
households holds out the promise of improving the
living conditions of poor families and fostering economic
development. Furthermore, it is claimed to be a very cost-effective
approach because some non-governmental
organizations (NGOs); that have been upscaled into
microbanks have shown that financial services can be offered
to low-income households while covering costs and even
earning a moderate profit. Re…
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean and Secretariat to the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC), is pleased to present the seventeenth volume of the Selected Statistical Indicators of Caribbean Countries (SSI). This publication represents a compilation of original nationally produced and officially published statistics on select indicators for the year 2003. Where available, 2004 and 2005 figures have been included. The aim of the SSI is to serve as a single source of Caribbean statistics on national…
In the national innovation systems of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD);, countries' export performance is considered to be the measure of their international competitiveness. The national specificity of economic performance is shown by the stickiness of each country's export pattern and indicates how much room for manoeuvre there is in each case for economic development policy initiatives. The authors introduce an analysis of the export specialization patterns of the Central American countries. They follow the methodology of innovative Eur…
The services sector has grown significantly in most countries and in the world economy as a whole. This has been observed in the progression from primary to secondary and/or tertiary sector-led economic growth and development. Services contribute significantly to output, employment and exports. They account for about 80% of the United States output (GDP) and about 65% of GDP of the European Union. Developed countries are the largest service exporters accounting for over 70% of services traded in the late 1990s. Although developing countries account for a relatively smal…
This study represents a collaborative effort by the Economic Commission
for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Subregional Headquarters for the
Caribbean and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) to
assess these actions with the aim of informing the future work of these
agencies around gender-based violence.
An important dimension of the mandate of the ECLAC Subregional
Headquarters for the Caribbean is the provision of strategic thinking and
information to governments for policy formulation. This is accomplished
through technical assistance and through research activitie…
Our Caribbean civilisation has been very much shaped by the sea. The evidence of this in our region abounds from time immemorial: the peopling of our Caribbean; its trading; its economy and commerce, ancient and modern; its daily living and eating; its culture and its thinking. All these facets of life and production have been moulded, even determined, by the sea. Yet, strangely our Caribbean civilisation has yet to reflect in public policy the real value and significance of the sea which joins us all. To be sure, each country in the region has its own ministry of fisheries but each m…
The paper will examine the migration of nurses in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States over the last 50 years, focusing on the situation in Trinidad and Tobago. It will make an attempt to assess the scope of nurse migration by drawing on data available in Trinidad and Tobago as well as in the two main destination countries, the United States and the United Kingdom. The main push factors triggering this mass exodus in the homeland and the various counteracting strategies adopted will be presented. To capture the whole picture, the different pull factors in the receiving countries …
Abstract Trade between the Central American Common Market (CACM) and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) is very low. Only 0.2% of the two groups' trade is between them. A possible explanation for this might be a supposed lack of adequate transport services. This report analyzes if there exists a potential to promote inter-subregional trade by improving transport services. It is found that in fact there does not exist a lack of direct services. 17% of services that call in one of the subregions also call in the other. In addition, due to the increase in transshipment services, a…
In the late of 1990s, when use of the Internet began to spread to almost all of the activities undertaken by people and businesses around the world, Internet-based electronic commerce was expected to introduce revolutionary innovations in businesses, management and international trade. In particular, information-sharing with clients and the clients of clients, and coordination of business activities with trade partners based on shared information, or the so-called supply chain management (SCM), were expected to be introduced by firms in order to dramatically reduce business costs and establish…