The region of Latin America and the Caribbean should grow by around 5% in the coming years, double what was forecast, to achieve significant progress in reducing the povertyaccording to the chief economist of the World Bank (WB) for the area, William Maloney.
“It could be 4%, it could be 6%, but I’m saying double that would be a good goal. It has to be better than 2.4%”, estimates Maloney, where he presented the report “The potential of integration: opportunities in a changing global economy”.
The World Bank foresees in this study, published last April, growth for the region of 1.4% in 2023 and 2.4% in 2024, what is not enough “to alleviate poverty or dissipate social tensions”according to the conclusions.
The worst prospects are in Chile, a country for which the World Bank forecasts an economic contraction of 0.7% in 2023; and Argentina, for which he estimates stagnation.
“We have lost several years due to the pandemic”, the expert found.
The WB report states that the poverty rate in the region increased from 29.7% in 2019 to 34.4% in 2020, with some 19 million people who entered that situationwhich represents a setback of seven years or more compared to previous data.
“Obviously, there are more policies to help families in various dimensions. I always say that improving public education, for example, is the best way to promote social mobility”but “In the long term, the way that has reduced poverty most effectively has been growth” economic.
“We have to work on both fronts -she says-, at the family level, ensuring that we have a well-established, well-financed social protection network, but the long-term issue is growth,” stresses.
Regional integration
Regarding the call made by the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to resume regional integration, Maloney believes that these initiatives promote economies of scale, so that Latin American companies can expand and have access to local markets.
“Exporting to our neighbors is good preparation to export to the world in general, if you think about it strategically,” Add.
In the long term, he says, the goal is “achieve more technology knowledge transfer to the region and that comes from the countries on the technological frontier.”
Source: EFE
Source: Gestion
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