The inadequacies of social protection in Latin America and the Caribbean reveal a clear need for more active fiscal policies in this area. Although economic growth and decent employment are indispensable preconditions for social progress, the need for financing from public expenditure is ineluctable in the medium term. The present article examines three ways of achieving this objective. The first is to close the tax gap, since the fiscal burden is low in most Latin American and Caribbean countries. The second is to construct budgeting systems capable of removing rigidities and reallocating pub…
The Caribbean region remains highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In order to assess the social and economic consequences of climate change for the region, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean( ECLAC) has developed a model for this purpose. The model is referred to as the Climate Impact Assessment Model (ECLAC-CIAM) and is a tool that can simultaneously assess multiple sectoral climate impacts specific to the Caribbean as a whole and for individual countries. To achieve this goal, an Integrated Assessment Model (IAM) with a Computable General Equilibrium C…
Concerted action by political, social and private actors at the local
level can be very useful for promoting economic competitiveness, but in order for it to become a reality it would be essential for the local communities to have greater autonomy and resources, as well as equal opportunities. This article begins by investigating the conditions required in order to ensure that the deeper political decentralization needed for local development will promote efficiency and equity, as well as the ways in which transfer systems can become decisive means for increasing equity and generating greater …
(4 de abril, 2011) El Secretario General de la Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económico (OCDE), Ángel Gurría, visitó el lunes 4 de abril la sede de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) en Santiago, Chile, donde sostuvo una reunión de trabajo con los directores de la institución para tratar temas de la coyuntura económica actual y el papel de América Latina y el Caribe.
Gurría fue recibido por la Secretaria Ejecutiva de la CEPAL, Alicia Bárcena, con quien discutió la posibilidad de ampliar los espacios de cooperación entre ambos organismos. La agenda d…
To promote public investment is crucial for sustaining economic growth in the region, Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said in Lima, Peru, where she participated in several high-level events.
Alicia Bárcena held a series of interviews with authorities of the Ministries of Economy and Finance of several countries of the region and will accompany the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, during his visit to Peru to attend the 2015 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) being he…
Increasing public revenue is key to strengthening fiscal policy’s capacity for action and bolstering the mobilization of resources to finance the 2030 Agenda. This according to the Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2019, an annual publication by ECLAC released today on the institution’s website.
The report – which analyzes current fiscal trends, the evolution of fiscal policies and their future challenges – adds that tackling the high level of tax incompliance and illicit financial flows in the region is more necessary than ever. According to the latest estimate of the Economi…
The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will present on Tuesday, October 6 its Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2020: Main conditioning factors of fiscal and monetary policies in the post-COVID-19 era, the institution’s flagship annual economic report, which takes stock of the region’s economies in the last year, with special emphasis on the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, and examines the prospects for the coming months.
The latest edition of this document – published by the United Nations regional commission since 1948 – will present an analysis o…
Promover la inversión pública es crucial para sostener el crecimiento económico de la región, sostuvo la Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), Alicia Bárcena, en Lima, Perú, donde participó en varios eventos de alto nivel.
Alicia Bárcena sustuvo una serie de entrevistas con autoridades de los ministerios de economía y finanzas de varios países de la región y acompañará hoy al Secretario General de las Naciones Unidas, Ban Ki-moon, en su visita al país para asistir a las reuniones anuales 2015 del Grupo Banco Mundial y el Fondo Monetario Internac…
In this paper we estimate the fiscal implications of the free trade agreement signed between the United States of America and the five Central American countries of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Of the five possible effects on fiscal revenue (direct, indirect, elasticity, substitution and induced), in this paper we estimate the first three. The fourth effect is most likely negligible, whereas the estimation of the fifth one would be plagued by uncertainty, so we do not attempt it here. We use comparative statics to estimate the impact. We find the adverse …
Summary Fiscal performance showed modest improvement during the period under review. Deficits contracted and so did national debts. This was possible however only because of reduced spending since revenues - capital, recurrent, and grants in aid - fell. Governments found it easier to reduce spending on the purchase of goods and services and on gross investment rather than on wages and salaries or on transfers. In the countries which had experienced severe disequilibrium in the past and therefore had accumulated a large debt, the legacy of interest payments and amortization charges remained…
The objective of this document is to analyse some of the main issues, effects and implications of the FTAA for Caribbean Community (CARICOM) economies. It also considers when relevant and for comparison purposes the cases of non-independent States. The document is divided into seven sections. Following the introduction, the second section describes, albeit briefly, the main issues that are found in the Free Trade Areas literature. The third section introduces the FTAA participants highlighting their economic and social disparities. The fourth section centers on the FTAA underlying principles …
The Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2025 analyses the developments and main trends in public revenues and expenditures, fiscal deficits, public debt and subnational fiscal accounts for the countries of the region in 2024. It confirms that with limited fiscal space, these countries continued to struggle to build up available resources and therefore faced persistent deficits and high debt levels. This report also examines tax incentive policies in dynamic sectors related to environmental sustainability and proposes strategies to increase effectiveness and strengthen governance…
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has not only been sudden but has required significant re-adjustment on the part of world economies with far-reaching effects anticipated in the short to medium term. For vulnerable Caribbean economies already challenged by high debt service payments, external support is needed to fill the resource gap.
The objective of this report is to assess the impact of the pandemic imposed restrictions across six critical sectors and to provide policy recommendations to ensure a swift recovery and make a case for greater external concessional financial support to the…
The Third Caribbean Development Roundtable (23-24 April 2014) was held under the theme “Exploring strategies for sustainable growth and development in Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS)”. The Roundtable focused on challenges faced in stimulating growth and creating a capacity for resilience among the Caribbean SIDS. The conference examined the continuing challenge of igniting robust growth in Caribbean Small States, and at the same time, mitigating structural and cyclical risks and uncertainty.
The presentations made at the Roundtable can be placed under six themes which comprise …
1. Rasgos generales de la evolución reciente La actividad económica en el Istmo Centroamericano registró en 2005 una expansión igual a la del año anterior (4%), apenas por debajo del promedio de América Latina y el Caribe (4,3%). Excluyendo a Panamá, la tasa de crecimiento se elevó de 3,3% a 3,6%. También fue notable una menor dispersión de las tasas alrededor del promedio. Todos los países se hallan en la fase expansiva del ciclo económico, ya que se cumplieron tres años de incremento del producto interno bruto (PIB) por habitante, después del retroceso ocurrido en el bienio 2001-2002. Si …
Abstract This paper uses a political economy approach to examine the nature and social impact of Ireland's economic 'miracle', namely the period of high economic growth known as the 'Celtic Tiger', which lasted from 1995 until 2000. Its principal purpose is to offer a broad and multifaceted reading of this period of Irish development, paying particular attention to the links between macroeconomic success and social vulnerability, in order to draw policy lessons for Latin America. The examination of the Celtic Tiger is prefaced by a brief introduction to some of the sa…
The current survey provides an overview of the economic performance for 2013 of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago plus the eight member states of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) and the outlook for 2014 and 2015. Data were collected from a review of reports from national governments and through interviews with government officials in each of the countries analyzed.…