Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean projects 2.1% growth in 2014

The Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is predicting that the Caribbean will experience a recovery and post at least 2.1 percent economic growth next year after recording a 1.3 percent growth in 2013.

According to the regional Economic Commission, the economies of the Carribean and Latin America will expand by 3.2 percent, on average, in 2014, higher than the 2.6 percent predicted for 2013.

In its new report titled “Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2013,” the regional Economic Commission said that “less buoyant external demand, greater international financial volatility and falling consumption” were the factors that determined the more modest economic performance of the countries in the region in 2013.

“The next year is expected to see a more favorable external environment help boost external demand, and, in turn, the region’s exports,” the regioanl body said, adding “private consumption will also continue to grow, although more slowly than in previous periods”.

More aggressive growth was being impeded by a less than projected investment in the region. It is projected that this situation will change in the medium to long term as the global economy recovers. -(CMC)