This document analyses the origins and consequences of debt accumulation in the Caribbean. The focus is placed on Caribbean Community (CARICOM) economies. The document also examines current strategies for the reduction of debt…
Organizado por CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs) en colaboración con la DFD de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), la ESADE (Escuela Superior de Administración y Dirección de Empresas) y la Secretaría General Iberoamericana (SEGIB). VIII Seminario sobre la Agenda de Desarrollo Iberoamericana (ADI).…
The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will launch its Economic Survey of Latin American and Caribbean 2015.…
This overview examines the economic performance of economies of the Caribbean in 2018 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 the key development imperatives for the Caribbean. The third chapter concludes, and the final chapter includes individual country briefs that give an overview of the economic situation for the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname and a subregiona…
This study focuses on the identification of the challenges and capacity constraints faced by enterprises in the sub-region in exploiting trade opportunities provided by Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Partial Scope Agreements (PSAs). It concentrates on the goods sector and case studies for Belize, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, and seeks to develop a strategic framework aimed at addressing these challenges and constraints, thereby creating a platform for economic diversification and export expansion. It explores the recent trade performance of the countries in question under selected trad…
The handiwork of CHATT will be on display at ECLAC Caribbean’s Port of Spain office for these three days, and several of the participating artisans will be present to share information on their work. Members of the diplomatic community and the United Nations system were invited to enjoy this unique display of craftwork, which includes decorative and wearable crochet items, jewelry, clothing, hand –crafted lighting, glass and crystal works, all of which are on sale, just in time for early Christmas shopping! The six-year-old organization CHATT, is based in Chaguanas, Trinidad …
This document, prepared by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Washington Office, presents and analyzes the most recent developments (first quarter of 2017) concerning capital flows to Latin America and the Caribbean. The main highlights are: - 2017 started with the highest monthly issuance on record for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)’s cross-border bond market, with total issuance reaching US$ 24.2 billion in January. Petrobras led the way, issuing a US$ 4 billion dual-tranche bond on January 9, encouraging other issuers to come to the market. - Although…
A recent training workshop facilitated by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) subregional headquarters for the Caribbean has “opened the eyes” of the Ministry of Finance of Saint Kitts and Nevis on how budgeting can be done “better”, according to Mr. Calvin Edwards, Deputy Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance. The objective of the workshop was to build the capacity of public officials to conduct Public Expenditure Reviews (PERs) with applications to their respective sectors. PERs are intended to align expenditures with government’s pri…
The Caribbean economy has experienced increased growth in the last year, moving from 1.4% in 2013 to 1.8% in 2014, with even more positive prospects for 2015, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), at the launch of the flagship report: “Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2014”. This was presented by ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena at the Commission’s headquarters in Santiago, Chile on 2 December 2014, and was broadcast online and via videoconference. Following this launch, the ECLAC subregional headq…
Using a new database of quarterly data for 21 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean for the 1990-2012 period, this document shows that the duration of GDP contractions appears to be a rather robust indicator of real volatility, and is negatively correlated with long run growth in Latin America and the Caribbean during the period. These results are consistent with different theoretical hypotheses in the literature that relate the duration of GDP contractions with economic growth. They also show that the relationship between real volatility and economic growth in the region is robust to …
For six years, the global economy has been driven by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policies of easy money. Liquidity has flowed from developed to developing economies, financing infrastructure and corporate investment and allowing consumers to indulge in credit-fuelled retail spending. Thus the effective ending of the Fed’s third round of asset purchases (QE3) at the end of October represents both a watershed and the beginning of a new stage in the world economy. The end of asset-purchases comes at a challenging time for emerging markets, with China’s economy slowing, the Euro zone struggling to …
This paper develops a framework to analyze the potential of different variables to increase total factor productivity (TFP) growth in countries with poor productivity performance. It takes an industry level approach for a set of countries used as a benchmark. The information comes from the EU KLEMS and LA KLEMS databases. Once this influence is measured, the difference in the scores of each variable in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico) with respect to the benchmark is used to test their potential for increasing productivity growth. Results show that, the top p…
Opening remarks by Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, on the occasion of the 14th International Resource Panel Meeting Santiago, 28 May 2014 It is a great honour to welcome you to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean on the occasion of the 14th International Resource Panel and its Steering Committee under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme-UNEP. It is especially significant since the decision to hold this Panel of Experts in our region is a source of tremendous p…
Evidence suggests that labour markets do not clear as posited by conventional microeconomics. The enduring inter-industry wage differentials (IIWD) and employer-size wage differentials (ESWD) present a challenge. Data from the Jamaican private sector reveal that eswd could be the impetus for IIWD. After accounting for labour quality and other characteristics, employers with 10 to 49 employees and 50 or more employees pay estimated premiums of 14.3% and 22.9%, respectively. After estimating the differences in tenure profiles, the premium associated with the largest employer size was reduced to …
The Global Conference on the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) was held in Bridgetown, Barbados, from the 25 April – 6 May 1994. This culminated in the Declaration of Barbados and the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. Ten years later an International Meeting to Review Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States was held in Port Louis, Mauritius, from 10–14 January 2005. This international meeting, in turn, resulted in the Mauritius Declaration and …
In Latin America (LA), as well as in other parts of the world, decentralization has increased in recent decades, reflecting primarily political pressures, partly linked to the democratization process. As a result, sub-national governments (SNGs) now account for substantial shares of public expenditures, in particular social and investment ones. This in turn has created growing challenges for macro-fiscal management, as concerns both ensuring medium-to long-term fiscal sustainability, and minimizing the impact of cyclical and commodity prices fluctuations on sub-national budgets. This is illust…
Abstract The author examines the pension systems of Bolivia and Antigua in the context of non-contributory pensions around the world, concluding with policy lessons. Universal pensions available to everyone of eligible age, regardless of income, assets or employment history, have many advantages over targeted pensions. If targeting is desired, it is best done with ex post recovery from other income rather than ex ante means tests. For reasons that are unclear, governments almost always prefer ex ante tests to ex post controls for noncontributory pensions, even though the reverse is tr…
Introduction and Summary The advent of Hurricane Ivan and its tragic and devastating consequences in the Cayman Islands and particularly in the Grand Cayman puts a strain on the economy and fiscal pressures on Government. The consequences of Ivan pose the need beyond the humanitarian response, for a rapid assessment of the damage (impact on assets); and losses (effects on economic and social flows); to determine its macroeconomic, social and environmental consequences and its implications for the country's fiscal stance. At the request of the Cayman Islands Government and with the support…
Second regional conference in follow-up to the World Summit for Social Development. Santiago, Chile, 15-17 May 2000 Summary The courses of action recommended at the World Summit for Social Development coincide with the general thrust of the action taken by the Governments of the region in the economic and social spheres during the 1990s. The objective of this document is to weigh the positive and negative aspects of the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean with regard to poverty reduction, productive job creation and social integration within the wider context of economic changes and s…
Abstract This paper has analyzed the changes in the distribution of income in Colombia since 1976 using data for urban economy (seven largest metropolitan areas) and for the manufacturing sector. Evidence is shown that the structural reforms that took place in the early 1990s have been related to higher income concentration in Colombia, where levels of inequality were already impressively high. The results suggest that both trade liberalization and skill complementary technological change have a positive impact on skill premiums. The evidence presented suggests that skill complementary technol…