ECLAC: Latin America faces development crisis that makes it difficult to reduce poverty

Latin America and the Caribbean face a development crisis due to rates “low and mediocre” of growth that complicate productive transformation and the reduction of the povertywarned this Wednesday the executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs.

In the opening speech of the Fourth Regional Seminar on Social Development, the executive also stressed the need to establish productive development policies that contribute to boosting economic growth and ending social inequality in the region.

The cups “low and mediocre growth“make it very difficult”promote productive transformation, reduce poverty, reduce informality, create high-quality jobs and generate tax revenue for impactful social policies“, he claimed.

“Latin America and the Caribbean is in a development crisis that is expressed in three traps: one of low capacity to grow, one of high inequality and low mobility and social cohesion, and one of low institutional capacity and ineffective governance.“, Salazar-Xirinachs said.

In this regard, he pointed out five factors to work on to reduce this inequality: addressing the productive heterogeneity that prevents the generation of quality jobs, the persistence of regressive tax systems and limited social policies, the low quality of education, gender inequality and human rights violations against indigenous people and other population groups.

The regional meeting also featured renowned authorities and specialists, such as the main advisor of the ECLAC-BMZ/giz Cooperation Program, Manfred Haebig, the director of the Directorate of Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (Aecid), Laura Oroz Ulibarri, and the deputy director for the Mexico and Central America Office of the Ford Foundation, Ximena Andión.

The seminar, under the motto ‘Social protection and inequality: Latin America and the Caribbean towards the Second World Summit on Social Development in 2025’, is being held until tomorrow in Santiago, Chile.