This report presents a description of trade flows between the U.S. and Latin American and the Caribbean. The region has been one of the fastest-growing regional trading partners for the United States, with Mexico becoming its number one trading partner in March 2019. The document also contains a summary of the main findings of the United States International Trade Commission on the potential economic effects of the USMCA on the U.S. economy, highlights of developments in the trade relationship between the United States and China, and measures that inhibit the free flow of trade. In addition, t…
In the face of weak global growth in major export markets the Caribbean economies have underperformed. The situation is much more severe among service producers1 which have suffered the decline in tourist arrivals and offshore banking services. The goods producers have benefited from the commodity boom and have tended to show more robust growth. The expectations for 2013 are that growth will be positive in the region with the service producers growing at 1.5per cent and the goods producers at 3.6per cent. This performance will depend heavily on improved performances in the major export markets…
IntroductionNearly 20 years ago, ECLAC put forward a proposal for structural change and productivity growth with social equity. At the time, the countries of the region were emerging from the severe crisis of the 1980s, with all its associated difficulties in terms of internal stabilization and external adjustment, and heading into a decade of structural reform which heeded the call of the Washington Consensus. In the midst of perplexity and pessimism regarding the region's prospects, ECLAC espoused a view of the situation that ran counter to the orthodox line of thought that marked econo…
The swift expansion of developing Asia is probably the most significant structural change in the world economy of the twenty-first century. Latin America, and in particular South America, have strongly benefited from developing Asia’s surge. China has become one of the region’s main trade partners. Despite their benefits, strengthened trans-Pacific economic relations have also become a cause for concern in Latin America, due to major imbalances of different kinds.
The purpose of this book is twofold. On the one hand, it aims to document the growing investment and trade relations between Latin …
IntroductionNearly 20 years ago, ECLAC put forward a proposal for structural change and productivity growth with social equity. At the time, the countries of the region were emerging from the severe crisis of the 1980s, with all its associated difficulties in terms of internal stabilization and external adjustment, and headed into a decade of structural reform which heeded the call of the Washington Consensus. In the midst of perplexity and pessimism regarding the region's prospects, ECLAC espoused a view of the situation that ran counter to the extremely orthodox line of thought that mar…
This paper examines the progress in the implementation of the CSME and what this has meant for the core (trade, investment, etc.); and functional aspects (foreign policy coordination, education, health and social development, etc.,); of integration. A tentative assessment is also made of the relevance of the current mode of integration in light of the opportunities and constraints of the international environment. The paper is divided into three sections. Section one provides a critical assessment of the implementation of the protocols and other aspects of the CSME. Section two evaluates the …
This volume deals with macroeconomic issues and their relationship to growth in emerging economies. Lack of economic growth has been a feature of Latin American economies since the 1980s. In this book the analysis is complemented by two studies focused in East Asia and South Africa. All country cases examined have exhibited low inflation but high instability of economic activity in the 1990s and early 2000s. These cases provide relevant theoretical implications for a broader understanding of real macroeconomic policies in economies vulnerable to the globalization of financial volatility.…
Presentation
The countries of the Latin American and Caribbean region have shown a keen
and lasting interest in mechanisms of economic development and public policies for its
promotion. This is a process in which ECLAC has been involved ever since it was founded
over half a century ago. Today, the debate on these issues continues against the backdrop
of a globalization process in which the remarkable dynamism of some dimensions
-especially its economic, financial and cultural aspects- contrasts with the
slow formation of an institutional network capable of coping with the increased
interdepend…
Abstract In the relatively short history of Mercosur, the countries of the region have gone through wide macroeconomic fluctuations. Macroeconomic turbulence is not a novelty for Argentina, Brazil and their partners, but it has shown different features in recent years, particularly concerning the strength and nature of regional spillovers. Despite the asymmetries in size among the economies of the area and the low starting levels of trade, the rapid growth of intra-regional commerce until the last few years, and the feeling that there was a 'mercosur component' in the intern…
This article highlights the need to complement macroeconomic policies designed to secure stabilization, deregulation and greater openness with other macroeconomic and microeconomic measures aimed at revitalizing the growth and competitiveness of the countries of the region. At the national level, in terms of macroeconomic measures, it is necessary to increase domestic saving and channel it towards productive investments within the local context, while microeconomic policy should include measures to develop and consolidate in the countries an innovative, wide-ranging system for furthering chang…
(23 de enero, 2015) La Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), Alicia Bárcena, participó en la Reunión Anual 2015 del Foro Económico Mundial (WEF, según sus siglas en inglés) realizada en Davos, Suiza, en donde moderó una sesión de alto nivel sobre el contexto económico de América Latina y sostuvo un encuentro con autoridades y empresarios mineros de todo el mundo, entre otras actividades.
Al presidir la sesión sobre el contexto de América Latina, Bárcena resaltó que tras varios años de bonanza, los países de la región se encuentran hoy en una enc…
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…
Global antidumping activity peaked in 2001, with 366 petitions initiated world-wide, and rapidly diminished to just 163 cases in 2007. With the onset of the current major world-wide recession some observers feared that antidumping usage would climb dramatically; however while antidumping activity was up by 28% in 2008 (to 208 cases initiated, according to WTO statistics), the rise was not nearly commensurate with the financial distress, and new antidumping initiations for the first three quarters of 2009 -at 154 cases- are on pace to show little change for the full year compared to the previou…
The recovery of the economies of MERCOSUR, and the disturbances that the recent crises generated in the region have motivated reconsideration of the medium term prospects of the integration project. This paper tries to contribute to this activity with a brief analysis of regional macroeconomic interactions, and a discussion in broad terms of incentives and restrictions for macroeconomic cooperation in the specific conditions of the region. The themes that play through the discussion are that (i) the lack of a shared concrete perspective about the role of MERCOSUR for the growth of the nationa…
Green coffee growers, most of whom are smallholders, have suffered from the significant volatility and fall in the international price of this commodity over the past decade. It is therefore crucial to understand the factors that drive price volatility, which has been studied extensively for other commodities but not for coffee. This study looks into the determinants of the conditional volatility of green coffee prices in three different markets: spot, futures and physical.…
For most developing countries, open regionalism has emerged as quite a sensible response to the undergoing turbulent and asymmetric process of economic globalization. Moreover, the successful experience of the countries which are now part of the European Union, has made regional integration an increasingly attractive option for the developing world. Whenever regional integration is intended to go beyond merely a free trade agreement, macroeconomic coordination becomes a key issue. Theoretically, the underlying idea of the macroeconomic coordination is the interdependency between econo…
This survey provides an overview of the macroeconomic performance of countries of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee (CDCC) for the year 2006 and their outlook for 2007. The report consists of three chapters. The first one provides a regional analysis of the main economic indicators from a comparative perspective. The second chapter deals with two selected topics of particular relevance for the economic development of Caribbean countries, namely remittances and migration, and natural resources dependency. The last chapter presents country briefs with the main macroeconomic dev…
(17 May 2012) The Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Alicia Bárcena concluded her official visit to the Republic of Korea on Wednesday, during which she met with authorities of this Asian country and participated in the 2012 High-Level Forum on Korea-Latin American and Caribbean Partnership.
The United Nations high-level official held a meeting with Keun Ho Jang, Director-General for Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Korea, as well as with other authorities, with whom she reaffirme…
This publication is a contribution by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) to the analysis of trade and investment relations between the United States of America and Latin America and the Caribbean, on the occasion of the visit of President Barack Obama to Brazil, Chile and El Salvador in March 2011. The early years of this new decade have brought good news for Latin America and the Caribbean. The region weathered the international crisis with unprecedented resilience and emerged from it sooner and more strongly than the developed economies. It grew by 6%…
La visita que inicia esta semana el Primer Ministro de China, Li Keqiang, a Brasil, Chile, Colombia y Perú marca un nuevo hito en la profundización de las relaciones económicas, políticas y de cooperación entre América Latina y el Caribe y China.
La visita del Primer Ministro Li y el discurso que dirigirá a la región desde la CEPAL el 25 de mayo se enmarcan en un esfuerzo sostenido por parte de China de impulsar un camino conjunto, desde que en 2008 este país reconoció el carácter estratégico de la relaciones con nuestra región en su Libro Blanco (el documento formal donde consigna su pol…