The U.S. economic expansion remains on track and it has entered its ninth year. October marked the 100th month of growth for the U.S. economy. In about two years the current economic expansion will be the longest on record.1 The unemployment rate sits at 4.1%, the lowest level since December 2000, suggesting the economy has reached, or nearly reached, full capacity.
In the third quarter, the U.S. economy achieved a milestone: the output gap closed. This is the first time that the output gap, or the difference between the actual GDP (based on data by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of …
The importance of sound and accurate early estimates of economic activity is of utmost importance to national economic authorities at the time of the decision-making process, and to the various agents involved in the economic analysis and follow up of the short-term economic prospects. In this context, the availability of short-term forecasts for quarterly GDP growth rates becomes highly relevant. In Latin America and the Caribbean an increasing amount of countries is producing high frequency economic data, and there has been an increasing interest by national authorities to use this data to i…
The Preliminary Overview of the Economies of the Caribbean analyzes in its 2016-2017 edition the economic performance of the region throughout 2016, the international context and macroeconomic policies implemented by countries, while also providing an outlook for 2017. The Caribbean recorded economic growth of only 0.8 per cent in 2016 but growth is expected to rebound to 2.4 per cent in 2017. The poor performance observed in 2016 was primarily due to a 3.7 percent contraction in the goods producing economies, which were hard hit by the decline in commodity prices in general and hydrocarbons i…
The total amount of debt issued by LAC borrowers from January to November 2017 reached US$ 138 billion, the highest annual amount ever issued in the region. Investors’ enthusiasm for LAC assets was supported by synchronized growth at the global level, still low interest rates across de globe (with only a very gradual tightening in the United States), weakness in the U.S. dollar, and an improvement in the region’s own economic conditions. On the sovereign side, seventeen countries tapped international bond markets this year, with Argentina topping the list with 28% of the total sovereign issuan…
In the first quarter of 2017, the U.S. economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.4%. Fixed investment was the main driver of growth, while inventories were a large drag. Consumer spending slowed significantly from its pace in previous quarters, but still accounted for about half of GDP growth in the first quarter.
· U.S. employers added a seasonally adjusted 1,079,000 jobs during the first six months of 2017, the weakest first-half performance since 2010, according to data the Labor Department.
· Productivity was flat in the first three months of the year. Slumping productivity gains have led to…
On Tuesday, September 26, 2017, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) headquarters in Port of Spain hosted an expert group meeting (EGM) which discussed the ECLAC study “A global value chain analysis of offshore medical universities in the Caribbean.”
The study takes a closer look at the Caribbean offshore medical university (OMU) cluster. It examines the contributions that the OMUs make to their host countries. Other factors affecting the competitiveness and long term viability of the OMU cluster in the Caribbean were discussed by experts from Barbados, G…
Meeting participants included representatives from the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Arts, and an artisan from Saint Lucia.
During the meeting, participants underscored the importance of creating avenues to allow artisans to have direct interaction with tourists, as well as the need to establish easier financing packages and the necessary infrastructure for artisans who are more business oriented.
These measures would help to strengthen linkages between the arts and touri…
“Hoy más que nunca la cooperación debe ser promovida y ampliada sobre bases multilaterales si queremos alcanzar en 2030 los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS)”, dijo este jueves en Buenos Aires la Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), Alicia Bárcena, quien participó en un encuentro organizado por el Gobierno de Argentina y el Consejo Económico y Social de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ECOSOC, por sus siglas en inglés).
El Simposio de Alto Nivel del Foro sobre Cooperación para el Desarrollo en Argentina. Cooperación Sur-Sur y Tria…
La Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), Alicia Bárcena, se reunió hoy en Nueva York con representantes de los países de la Comunidad del Caribe (CARICOM) para evaluar las prioridades y necesidades específicas de la subregión en torno a la implementación de la Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible y sus 17 Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS).
Bárcena felicitó en primer lugar a Belice por ser el primer país del Caribe en presentar su informe nacional voluntario (VNR, por sus siglas en inglés) ante el Foro Político de Alto Nivel sobre el …
“Los países de América Latina y el Caribe tienen una oportunidad histórica para estrechar lazos con China y el resto de las economías asiáticas, y el Foro de la Franja y Ruta para la Cooperación Internacional nos entrega una propuesta civilizatoria de conectividad y prosperidad compartida”, señaló Alicia Bárcena, Secretaria Ejecutiva de la CEPAL, en Beijing durante la reunión de alto nivel que se desarrolló en la capital china del 14 al 15 de mayo.
Bárcena encabezó la delegación de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) en esta cumbre internacional en la que participaron…
This document, prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Washington Office, presents and analyzes the most recent developments (first half of 2017) concerning capital flows to Latin America and the Caribbean.…
Evolving Development thinking and practices in
Latin America and the Caribbean: The role of ECLAC
Keynote Address by Dr Antonio Prado
Deputy Executive Secretary
18th CDCC Monitoring Committee
Port of Spain, 19 May 2017
I thank Diane for that very fitting introduction to my presentation here this morning. We have begun considering how best to commemorate 70 years of ECLAC’s work as a Regional Commission of the United Nations. As you have just seen, our support for development in the region has taken many different forms. However it is safe to say that our principal contri…
This document, prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Washington Office, presents and analyzes the most recent developments (first quarter of 2017) concerning capital flows to Latin America and the Caribbean.
The main highlights are:
- 2017 started with the highest monthly issuance on record for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)’s cross-border bond market, with total issuance reaching US$ 24.2 billion in January. Petrobras led the way, issuing a US$ 4 billion dual-tranche bond on January 9, encouraging other issuers to come to the market.
- Although…
The handiwork of CHATT will be on display at ECLAC Caribbean’s Port of Spain office for these three days, and several of the participating artisans will be present to share information on their work.
Members of the diplomatic community and the United Nations system were invited to enjoy this unique display of craftwork, which includes decorative and wearable crochet items, jewelry, clothing, hand –crafted lighting, glass and crystal works, all of which are on sale, just in time for early Christmas shopping!
The six-year-old organization CHATT, is based in Chaguanas, Trinidad …
Consultations aimed at explaining the importance of pursuing public expenditure reviews (PERs) as part of the budget process were facilitated in Belize by a team from the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) subregional headquarters for the Caribbean, led by Deputy Director, Dr. Dillon Alleyne, along with Coordinator of the Economic Development Unit at ECLAC Caribbean, Sheldon McLean, and consultant, Professor Vanus James.
PERs are intended to align expenditures with government’s priorities. They also aim to provide savings, either from expenditure reallocati…
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) headquarters in Port of Spainrecentlybrought together decision makers from Belize, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago to examine the trade-related performance of Caribbean countries.
he basis for discussion was the ECLAC study entitled “Monitoring trade agreements: Improving export performance and promoting industrialization in the goods-producing economies of the Caribbean”. The study highlighted that the exports of Belize, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago are concentrated towards few markets, most notably the United Stat…
The effectiveness and efficiency of a national vocational education and training (VET) system depends, amongst others, on whether it provides its learners with the required skills now and in the future. These requirements have changed over the last decades and they are expected to change again in the future. National VET systems need to adapt to these changes in time to avoid costly skill mismatches as not having the right skills means lower wages and lower job satisfaction for workers, lower productivity and more hiring costs for employers, and lower economic output for the economy as a whole…
Flow-of-funds accounting permit to monitor the financial sector in terms of flows and stocks and to analyze its relationship with the real sector. These show inter-sectoral financial flows, capture balance sheet positions and all financial transactions by instrument, type and economic sector. In this paper we explain the methodology for the construction of flow-of-funds accounts and we exemplify their use for two source cases of study: the Mexican Crisis (1994-1995) and the Asian Crisis (1997-1998). Using similar sources of data, the same methodology and approach for the construction of all t…
Las dos comisiones económicas organizaron un seminario sobre la inclusión financiera conjunto con el Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), The Asia Foundation (AF), Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI) y el Center for Internacional Financial Cooperation (CIFC) del Korean Institute of Finance.…
The U.S labor market is tight and is expected to return to full employment in 2017. However, productivity has risen less than 1% for six consecutive years. Sluggish productivity has implications for wage growth, which has been low by historical standards during this economic recovery. Wage growth seems to be already picking up, though, as the economy continues to advance. Average hourly earnings for private-sector workers rose 2.9% in December 2016 from a year earlier. That was the strongest growth of the current expansion.
Inflation has been low for the past four years. However, as the expans…