Latin America's gross domestic product should grow by about 4 percent in 2012, slowing from an estimated 4.4 percent this year, the OECD and UN regional economic body ECLAC said in a report on Friday. The report, released at a summit in Paraguay, said an uncertain global economic outlook "remained the biggest source of uncertainty for Latin America and the Caribbean."
It said any slowdown in China could be especially sensitive for Latin America by reducing demand for raw materials, urging countries to put in place economic and social policies that foster long-term development. "In spite of the global financial crisis, the situation of Latin American economies has improved substantially in the last few years. The regions governments must take advantage of this opportunity," the report said.
The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) was set up 50 years ago to promote solutions to cross-border economic problems. It has 34 member countries. The World Bank also sees growth in the region next year of about 4 percent compared with a range of between 3.5 percent and 4.5 percent for 2011.
World Bank Regional Vice President Pamela Cox said the region was "well-positioned to withstand global shocks" although some countries had less room for hefty stimulus spending than they did in the crisis of 2008-2009. "The key issue on everyone's mind right now is the global situation and especially the impact on Latin American," she told reporters at the Ibero-American summit in Asuncion. "We do see a slight softening of growth right now." "The things we need to watch for are that a lot of Latin America's growth ... is commodities-driven and if commodities prices soften ... that will have an impact on the region," she added.