SANTIAGO, Chile (CMC) — The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) is predicting that Caribbean economies will grow 2.1 per cent in 2019 even as it acknowledged an international scenario marked by what it describes as “greater uncertainty”.
ECLAC also projected that the region will end 2018 with average growth of 1.2 per cent.
“The year 2019 looks to be a period in which global economic uncertainties, far from waning, will intensify and will arise from different fronts,” said ECLAC in unveiling its last economic report of the year, titled “The Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean 2018”.
ECLAC said this will have an impact on the growth of the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, which, on average, are seen expanding by 1.7 per cent.
It forecasts that Central America (excluding Mexico) will grow 3.3 per cent in 2019, South America 1.4 per cent, and the Caribbean 2.1 per cent.
On a country level, the report says Dominica is leading regional growth, with a 9.0 per cent expansion, followed by the Dominican Republic (5.7 per cent), Panama (5.6 per cent), Antigua and Barbuda (4.7 per cent), and Guyana (4.6 per cent).
The report warns that Venezuela will “suffer a minus 10 per cent contraction in its economy”; Nicaragua, a minus two per cent; and Argentina, minus 1.8 per cent.
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