Effects of COVID-19 On Exports and Port Movements in Latin America and the Caribbean

In the last few months, the world has witnessed and continue to witness a drastic change in our daily lives, which has also caused great impacts on business, trade, and shipping. The outbreak of a pandemic changed all economic and trade expectations for 2020. From a forecast of 3.6% growth in container trade worldwide in the last quarter of 2019, to 2.5% in January 2020, new projections have lowered down expectations to -4.9%. This drop is partially explained, apart from the pandemic, by the continuing increase of blank sails[1] and labour restrictions. Several countries have been implementing…

Effects of COVID-19 on exports and port movements in Latin America and the Caribbean

In the last few months, the world has witnessed and continue to witness a drastic change in our daily lives, which has also caused great impacts on business, trade, and shipping. The outbreak of a pandemic changed all economic and trade expectations for 2020. From a forecast of 3.6% growth in container trade worldwide in the last quarter of 2019, to 2.5% in January 2020, new projections have lowered down expectations to -4.9%. This drop is partially explained, apart from the pandemic, by the continuing increase of blank sails[1] and labour restrictions. Several countries have been implementing…

A preliminary review of policy responses to enhance SME access to trade financing in the Caribbean

The economies of the Caribbean face several challenges, such as a lack of economies of scale in production of goods and services exacerbated by small populations, narrow internal markets and scarce capital, which limit the economic gains from self-sufficiency. For this reason, more emphasis should be placed on building export capacity and facilitating trade. If we examine the characteristics of firms in the subregion, the majority can be categorized as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, only about 13 per cent of these SMEs export. This suggests that on average the subregion i…

National energy efficiency monitoring report of Saint Lucia

The Government of Saint Lucia continues to take a strategic approach to the development of the energy sector and to this end, in 2010 elaborated a comprehensive national energy policy. In 2018, the country also adopted its National Energy Transition Strategy, which is intended to chart the way forward for the inclusion of RE in the electricity generation mix. While there has been some attention given to the whole issue of renewable energy and its inclusion in the generation mix, there has not been a similar level of attention paid to the study of energy efficiency and the benefits which are wi…

A network analysis approach to vertical trade linkages: the case of Latin America and Asia

This document adopts a network analysis approach to examine the vertical trade relations between Latin America and Asia, showing the potential of these techniques for providing new insights into the patterns and dynamics of countries’ GVC linkages. Particularly, network-based measures are used to assess how important countries are as users and suppliers of foreign intermediate inputs in each network, at both the aggregate and sector level. In addition, clustering techniques are applied to identify groups of supplier countries.…

Discurso de cierre del trigésimo octavo período de sesiones de la CEPAL

Discurso de cierre del trigésimo octavo período de sesiones de la CEPAL Alicia Bárcena, Secretaria Ejecutiva de la CEPAL Santiago, 28 de octubre de 2020 Querido Rodolfo Solano Quirós, Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto de Costa Rica, Dear Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary General, thank you for being with us today, Esteemed Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations and Chair of the Group of 77 and China, Distinguidos Cancilleres, Viceministros y delegados de los Estados miembros de la CEPAL, Señoras y señores miembros del Cuerpo D…

Boletín de Comercio Exterior del MERCOSUR Nº 3: los desafíos de la integración en el mundo de la pospandemia

El Boletín de Comercio Exterior del MERCOSUR analiza la dinámica comercial del Mercado Común del Sur desde una perspectiva estructural. Se trata de una publicación anual de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), elaborada en forma conjunta por las oficinas de la CEPAL en Brasilia, Buenos Aires y Montevideo, en coordinación con la División de Comercio Internacional e Integración y bajo la supervisión de la Oficina de la Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión. El Boletín cuenta con el apoyo del Mecanismo Regional para el Desarrollo en Transición (Regional Facility for Develo…

Joint Statement on the Contribution of International Trade and Supply Chains to a Sustainable Socioeconomic Recovery in COVID-19 times

Eight UN organizations stress critical role of international transport and integrated supply chains for COVID-19 recovery and the SDGs…

Bilateral effects of non-tariff measures on international trade: Volume-based panel estimates

Seeking to deepen the understanding about the relationship between non-tariff measures (NTMs) and international trade, this work estimates bilateral volume effects of imposing NTMs on international trade, focusing on two of the most observed measures: technical barriers to trade (TBT) and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures. Estimates were carried out for more than 5,000 products at the 6-digit level of the Harmonized System using a panel for 2001-2015 with NTM data notified by more than 150 member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO).…

Global Air Cargo in the context of the COVID-19

The air transport industry is deemed essential in the face of the current outbreak, being the means of transport that regularly distributes crucial goods such as medical equipment, inputs and supplies, as well as other essential assets for the functioning of a country. However, since the beginning of the pandemic, it has displayed an overall downturn. The air cargo performance demonstrated a severe capacity shortfall at a global scale: ✓ Global demand, which includes both domestic and international markets, fell by 15.2% in March compared to the previous year (-15.8% for internatio…

National energy efficiency monitoring report of Barbados

The Energy Division of the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources of Barbados developed a database that allows for analysis of energy efficiency indicators and the impact of policies on trends in these indicators for different sectors of the country. This data will form the baseline of the energy efficiency campaign launched by the Energy Division and evidence-based policy development. In addition, this exercise is expected to strengthen the institutional capacity to collect, collate and analyse energy efficiency data. This report analyses the information collected for the main sectors of the …

ECLAC contribution to integration in Central America

The proposal for development and integration in Central America put forward by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on the basis of its considerable prior experience, is set out and updated in these infographics. The proposal emphasizes the need for a progressive structural change driven across various fronts: the social sector, energy, climate change challenges, infrastructure, fiscal coordination, trade, productive integration and innovation. It focuses on the importance of an environmental big push for equality and sustainability, supported by coordinated publ…

COVID-19 Pandemic Will Lead to the Biggest Contraction in Economic Activity in the Region’s History: A -5.3% Drop in 2020

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean through external and domestic factors, the combined effect of which will lead to the worst contraction that the region has ever undergone, exceeding those seen in 1914 and 1930. According to the latest estimates, an average regional contraction of -5.3% is forecast for 2020, ECLAC indicated today while launching a new report. The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Bárcena, presented on this Tuesday, April 21, the COVID-19 Special Rep…

Final assessment report. Assessment of development account project 1617 AA: input-output tables for industrial and trade policies in Central and South America

Recovery measures for the tourism sector in Latin America and the Caribbean present an opportunity to promote sustainability and resilience

Desde abril de 2020, el turismo en la región se ha detenido temporalmente como resultado de la pandemia de la enfermedad por coronavirus (COVID-19). Esta parálisis no solo ha afectado duramente a las economías y el empleo del Caribe, sino también a muchas comunidades locales de América Latina. En este informe se examina la contribución del turismo a las exportaciones, el producto interno bruto (PIB) y el empleo, así como la reciente disminución de esta actividad en la región. Un escenario del impacto muestra que la caída del turismo podría llevar a una disminución del crecimiento del PIB total…

Joint UN call for smooth transit and transport facilitation to and from landlocked developing countries

Six United Nations agencies call on governments to ensure smooth transit and transport for their landlocked neighbours during and after #COVID19.…

Caribbean in Brief: an information document for Caribbean Small Island Developing States

This brief is intended to provide general information on the upcoming United Nations Ocean Conference on scaling up ocean actions based on science and innovation for the implementation of Agenda 2030 - Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14), with a view to stimulating more active, engaged participation of the Caribbean in the discussions. The United Nations Ocean Conference will be co-chaired by Kenya and Portugal, and hosted by the Government of Portugal in Lisbon, during 2021. The objective of this conference is consistent with the 2017 UN General Assembly proclamation on the Decade of Oce…

Impact of the ASEAN Economic Community and implications for Latin America

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has become one of the most important players in the global trading system. Comprising 10 countries with very diverse income levels, ASEAN is now the world’s fifth largest economy and plays a central role in the so-called “Factory Asia”. This document begins with an overview of the history and institutions of ASEAN, before focusing on one of its three pillars: the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), including a critical assessment of outcomes in the areas of trade in goods, trade in services and investment, among others. The document draws best pra…

Latin America’s faltering manufacturing competitiveness: What role for intermediate services?

This document contributes to the scarce empirical literature on the role of services as a source of manufacturing competitiveness in developing economies, providing evidence on the Latin American region. The 2018 release of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Trade in Value Added (TiVA) database is used to assess the servicification of manufacturing exports in seven Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Peru) between 2005 and 2015, in comparison with ten Asian emerging economies (eight ASEAN countries (Brunei Daruss…

ECLAC presents cases of transformative investments for a sustainable economy in Brazil

On May 26th, the ECLAC office in Brasilia, together with the Brazilian Global Compact Network, held a webinar about the Big Push for Sustainability , in which more than 60 case studies of investments for sustainable development in Brazil were presented.…