LAC Success Put to Test
This semiannual report, a product of the Office of the Chief Economist for the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region of the World Bank, examines the nature of the very good overall performance of the LAC region in the aftermath of the 2008-0...
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Format: | Report |
Language: | English en_US |
Published: |
Washington, DC
2017
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/401231468270863901/LAC-success-put-to-test http://hdl.handle.net/10986/27387 |
Summary: | This semiannual report, a product of the
Office of the Chief Economist for the Latin America and the
Caribbean (LAC) region of the World Bank, examines the nature
of the very good overall performance of the LAC region in
the aftermath of the 2008-09 global financial crisis and
presents a comparative analysis of the post-crisis recovery
patterns in the region vis-a-vis other regions. The first
part of this report provides an overview of recent economic
developments, an in depth look at the drivers of the
post-crisis performance in the region, analyzes the external
and domestic risks that could drag down growth performance
in LAC, and discusses policy response options. The second
part of the report documents the adverse impact of the
crisis on the Caribbean region as well as its slow recovery.
It distinguishes the poorer performance of English speaking
Caribbean nations vis-a-vis non-English speaking ones, and
highlights the dependence of the region on countries in the
epicenter of the crisis, especially the United States, and
the limited fiscal space that disabled a counter-cyclical
policy response. The report concludes by emphasizing that
skillful cycle management is necessary although far from
sufficient to be able to turn what has to date been a
cyclical recovery into a higher rate of trend growth.
Moreover, countries experiencing a formidable windfall from
the high commodity prices are in a unique position to seize
the opportunity by judiciously saving and investing out of
the windfall, they could relax the structural speed limits
that have so far kept economic activity from rising to a
higher long-run growth path. |
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