Credits of the Subject “Hispanic American Economy”: 2
Duration: two weeks
Regional deceleration. The Latin American economic growth rate: 1.1%
Mexico and Central America: 2,7%
Causes: global crisis, world trade reduction, and export commodity prices decline (agricultural, energy, crude oil, and raw materials)
Financial markets volatility
Investment reduction
Unemployment rate: 6%
The economic slowdown cut into labour demand, unemployment rate is esteemed to rise to 8.3% for the region overall, while the new jobs that have been created are of poorer quality
The effects of the crisis were channeled through the real sector of the economies, damaging what had been the main engines of regional growth
exports plunged, while the contraction of the economic activity worldwide, together with the drop in International Trade flows, lowered commodity prices, which hurt the terms of the international trade in Hispanic America (Iberian America)
At the same time, revenue from remittances and tourism fell, with Mexico and Central American countries and the Caribbean suffering the most, and Foreign direct investment (FDI)
plummeted by 37%
Economic Growth is esteemed to be slower in some of the most open economies that have a less diversified portfolio of
trade partners and a heavier reliance on manufacturing
The same can be said for the Caribbean Economies, some of which are facing complex financial and exchange-rate situations
Drop in foreign investment was Generalized in all the subregions in Hispanic America and the Caribbean
Brazil continued to be the main foreign direct investment recipient, followed by Chile, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina
Among the medium-sized and large economies in Hispanic America, Chile is the economy with the highest proportion of
foreign direct investment concerning its GDP (8%)
As in the past, the services sector received the largest amount of foreign direct investment, while the primary sector (agriculture, mining, and hydrocarbons) experienced a relative drop
The United States continued to be the largest
investor in the region, followed by Spain and Canada