Latin America and the Caribbean is mired in a decades-long growth trap, and further hampered by global and regional conditions that limit the space for macroeconomic policies to spur economic growth in the region. The results of the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2024 reveal weaker job creation, especially in the formal sector, with young people, women, older persons, migrants and rural dwellers among the most likely to be informal workers. In addition, an intensification of climate change effects will drastically reduce the number of jobs created in the medium term if mit…
The United States economy contracted by 3.5% in 2020 —the worst performance since the Second World War— but is currently expected to grow by an estimated 6.5% in 2021, the fastest pace in three decades. While there is optimism for the growth outlook this year and beyond, uncertainty and risks prevail.
The United States economic outlook: 2020 in review and early 2021 developments presents and analyses the developments in the United States economy in 2020 and early 2021, and examines how they could affect financial conditions in Latin America and the Caribbean. The report includes a gender focus…
This paper examines the genesis and evolution of debt and debt overhang in the Caribbean with individual case studies, to extract lessons and make broad recommendations with regard to appropriate mechanisms and policy measures that can be implemented to reduce the debt burden of the subregion. The econometric model utilized in the paper has shown that a one percent increase on debt to GDP ratio causes a 0.015decline in real GDP growth for the countries in the Caribbean panel, suggesting that debt has a pernicious effect on growth on Caribbean economies. What is even more worrisome was that Car…
This special issue of the United States economic outlook examines the trends in the ownership composition of United States federal debt holders, focusing on the balance between domestic and foreign investors and its implications for fiscal policy, financial stability and Latin America and the Caribbean. It provides updated data through mid-2025 on the structure of Treasury holdings, highlighting both the region’s participation as holders of United States debt and the strategies adopted by Latin American and Caribbean countries. The publication builds on two earlier reports by the ECLAC office …
This document examines the implementation strategies and execution challenges of three major pieces of legislation that were signed into law in the United States in late 2021 and in 2022. Together they provide more than US$ 2 trillion in authorized funding and incentives for up to ten years to rebuild the country’s infrastructure, accelerate the transition to a green economy, and strengthen the domestic semiconductor industry while promoting job growth, workforce development, and equity. The scale of these laws, given the level of funding required, their complexity, given the multiplicity of g…
The United States has witnessed historic inflation since the economy began to reopen in 2021 following the lockdowns triggered by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The United States economic outlook: inflation trends post COVID-19 looks at the forces behind this surge in prices and the trade-offs and risks for the policy response. The report examines inflation trends and drivers, as well as labour market trends since the economy reopened; economic policies implemented by the United States in response to the pandemic, and more recently to inflation; and the possible impact of these p…
The ICMS represents the most important source of revenue for the Brazilian states and one of the most important taxes in Brazil. Unlike other VATs in the world, the ICMS is not collected by the central government. The ICMS is collected by the states (the intermediate level of government), which are able to fix the internal rates; a situation that reflects the fiscal autonomy of the different levels of government in Brazil. Similarly, the direct and unconditional transfers of 25% of the ICMS collection to the municipalities (the local level) show the high degree of autonomy at the sub–national …
This document takes up a number of the points raised in the 2005 report by ECLAC and other UN agencies on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Latin America and the Caribbean. It provides further discussion on the type of problems and challenges facing the region in five areas that are either included in the MDGs or closely related to them (poverty, hunger and child malnutrition, education, health and children). The document makes recommendations for the region's governments and countries in these five areas.…
Abstract The region ended the 1990s with mixed results in the area of economic and social planning. The outcomes of planning exercises have varied depending on what is understood by the planning process or system in each country (agents, agencies, subjects, knowledge, political agenda, procedures, resource-allocation, target-image, institutional framework and others). On point that does emerge, however, is the need for the State to have an agency or representative through which it can perform basic, irreplaceable planning duties, whatever the style of development or reform adopted. These inclu…
Introduction
Based on the evidence of the last few decades, it is widely
accepted that the State can be an obstacle to development. The corollary to this, of course, is that public policy can play a pivotal role in creating a growth-oriented environment and in promoting change. Not surprisingly, the major thrust of the structural reforms of recent years has been in creating a more effective State that can work in partnership with the private sector for the public good. An appropriate regulatory and institutional framework is critical to the functioning of both the financial and real sectors. I…
The external and internal imbalances that appeared in the early 1980s, together with the adjustment and stabilization policies applied throughout that decade in Latin America, juxtaposed the need to reduce the fiscal deficit with the need to make up for the loss of income sustained by the most vulnerable groups of the population as a consequence of the external debt crisis. This article examines patterns of social expenditure in a number of countries in the region, in an effort to determine how these policies affected the level and composition of social spending and, hence, influenced social p…
This overview examines the economic performance of economies of the Caribbean in 2022 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 concludes, while the annex includes individual country briefs that give an overview of the economic situation for the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and a subregional assessment of the countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currenc…
This overview examines the economic performance of economies of the Caribbean in 2021 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 concludes, while the annex includes individual country briefs that give an overview of the economic situation for the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and a subregional assessment of the countries of the Eastern Caribbean Currenc…
This overview examines the economic performance of economies of the Caribbean in 2020 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 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…
The present study seeks to explore how fiscal policies can employed to deliver both socioeconomic and environmental dividends with a focus on Brazil as a case study. In the current context where the global economy in general and Brazil’s economy in particular are struggling to reinvigorate, whereas disregarding environmental concerns is a hazard for long-term economic development itself, the focus is thus on reviewing the recent literature that seeks to reconcile a stronger economic and social performance based on fiscal instruments that foster sustainable investments. An overview of the theor…
When studying tax issues in Latin America, along with any regional perspective, individual country differences must be taken into account. Despite this regional diversity, the tax systems of the vast majority of Latin America's countries share certain key characteristics: the composition of their tax structures; the technical, economic, political and administrative constraints they face; current trends in tax policy and administration; and a high estimated level of tax evasion.
Today's globalized world calls for the need to align tax policies and administrations with those used in ot…
The fiscal burden in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries more than doubles the overall taxation level in Latin American countries. In terms of revenue composition, OECD countries collect a larger share from direct taxes; there is also a greater component from social contributions. During the nineties, the revival of economic growth and the design of better tax systems enabled fiscal revenues to recover strongly, reaching an increase of 3 points of GDP (Gross Domestic Product). However, this effort has not been sufficient, considering the dynamics of public d…
Stable development and financing of the social protection
system, one of the priorities of fiscal policy in Chile over
recent years, has helped to reduce poverty and indigence,
particularly since the 1990s. The fiscal accounts have been
managed prudently, and budgetary balance and efficient
administration have been given priority over short-term
objectives. Even so, poverty is still a fact of life and the
poor are still vulnerable to drastic falls in income. This means
that an effort is still required to modernize fiscal policy and
develop new institutional arrangements for the social
protecti…
In this article, indicators of fiscal discretionality are estimated using a simple methodology, and in this way the cyclical component of the public accounts balance (i.e., the amounts of income and expenditure associated with transitory movements of the level of activity); is identified for a number of Latin American countries in the 1990s. The difference gives a measure of the discretional balance, which represents a medium-term indicator of the state of the public accounts. Budgetary rules which take account of these mechanisms not only ensure sustainability over time but also reduce the cy…