The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean He assured on Tuesday that the prospects are complex and expects low regional growth to continue for at least the next two years, following the same path as a large part of the world’s most advanced economies.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would grow in the region by 1.7% in 2023 and even less in 2024, 1.5%, according to ECLAC’s economic growth projections that appear in a new report.
The outlook was released at a time when Latin America is facing a complicated scenario, both internally and in the international context, with high inflation, high interest rates, large public debt, falling investment and growing demands and social unrest. .
At the international level, financial uncertainty and the slowdown in growth and trade persist. By 2023 and 2024, world GDP is expected to grow by 3%less than the 3.5% of 2022.
Perspectives appear in the new “Economic Study of Latin America and the Caribbean 2023. Financing a sustainable transition: investment to grow and face climate change”of 302 pages that ECLAC released on Tuesday.
Growth forecasts represent a slowdown for all subregions when compared to 2022: South America would grow by 1.2% in 2023 and the same in 2024 compared to the 3.7% from 2022; Central America and Mexico a 3% in 2023 and a 2.1% in 2024 (3.4% in 2022); and the Caribbean, excluding Guyana, a 4.2% this year and 2.8% in 2024 (6.3% in 2022).
The impact will be felt in various sectors, including employment.
“The prospects are not very optimistic for the labor markets of Latin America and the Caribbean,” ECLAC said in its report. He explained that the number of unemployed in the region could increase a 1.9% in 2023 and a 1.1% in 2024, which represents a significant deceleration with respect to the growth of the 5.4% of 2022.
ECLAC forecasts that the regional unemployment rate, meanwhile, will be 6.8% in 2023 and from 7.1% next year. In 2022 it was from 7%.
“There is concern about the quality of employment in the region,” indicated the organization, after explaining that a context of low growth means that “workers become more vulnerable, have lower levels of social protection and are employed in less and less productive sectors”.
This, in turn, would lead to a reduction in average wages and an increase in poverty and inequality in the region, ECLAC indicated in its report.
Source: AP
Source: Gestion
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