Highlights
• In the first quarter of 2020, the spread of the coronavirus, together with a precipitous decline in commodity prices, radically changed the financial landscape for Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) issuers. After a record breaking issuance of US$ 38 billion worth of bonds in January, bond issuance dried-up in February and March, bringing total quarterly issuance to US$ 45 billion.
• On March 26, however, Panama successfully placed a sovereign bond in cross-border markets to secure additional resources to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. It was followed in April by other four soverei…
This overview examines the economic performance of economies of the Caribbean in 2019 and comprises four chapters. The first chapter provides a comparative analysis across Caribbean economies of the main macroeconomic variables, namely GDP growth, monetary indicators, as well as fiscal and external accounts. The second chapter looks at areas of focus in the Caribbean. The third chapter concludes, while the annex includes individual country briefs that give an overview of the economic situation for the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and a subregional assessment of the coun…
This survey examines the economic performance of economies of the Caribbean in 2018 and comprises six chapters. The first chapter gives an overview of global, regional and subregional economic performance as well as unemployment in the Caribbean. The second provides an analysis of governments in the subregion’s fiscal performance and debt burden. The third looks at monetary policy and variables. The fourth is focused external sector and its factors. The fifth chapter concludes, while the final chapter includes individual country briefs that give an overview of the economic situation for the Ba…
This document, prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Washington Office, presents and analyzes the most recent developments (first nine months of 2020 in times of COVID-19) concerning capital flows to Latin America and the Caribbean.…
This study analyzes foreign direct investment (FDI) outflows from the Republic of Korea to Latin America and the Caribbean in the last two decades to identify how Korean companies are investing in the region and which lessons can be learned from this relationship. The study relies on the analysis of investment flows, greenfield projects, and mergers and acquisitions as well as on interviews with entrepreneurs and authorities and a survey conducted on a small sample of suppliers of the automotive industry in Mexico. The Republic of Korea is a valuable economic partner for countries in Latin Ame…
Latin America and the Caribbean is a large, heterogeneous region that has been open to foreign direct investment (FDI) and is home to two of the top FDI recipient economies in the world: Brazil and Mexico. The trade and investment relationship between the region and the member States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) has been concentrated on infrastructure and energy, and to a lesser extent commercial and financial services, agriculture and tourism. Both regions could exploit synergies to benefit more from bilateral …