The economy of Dominican Republic It will be one of the three that will grow the most in 2023 in the region, 4.6%, according to forecasts released this Thursday by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal).
This organism of the United Nations based in Santiago de Chile specified in a statement that the Dominican Republic presents the same growth rate as Panama (4.6%), while Venezuela appears in the estimates as the Latin American country with the greatest progress, 5%.
After these economies, it is foreseeable that Paraguayan (4.2%), the Caribbean islands (3.5%), Guatemala (3.2%), Honduras (3%), Costa Rica (2.7%) and Nicaragua (2.3%),
In the middle of the projection table growth rates of ECLAC are El Salvador, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador and Boliviawith an estimate of 2%, followed by Cuba and Mexico, both with an increase of 1.5%.
At the bottom, but still with positive figures, are Colombia (1.2%) and Brazil (0.8%), while Chile (-0.3%), Haiti (-0.7%) and Argentina (-2%) are the only countries that will decrease this year.
TO global levelECLAC slightly reduced its growth forecast for regional GDP for 2023 from the 1.3% estimated last December to 1.2%, mainly due to “growing external uncertainties and internal restrictions”.
According to this institution, the scenario is “complex” because, to the increases in interest rates worldwide, “the financial turbulence observed at the beginning of March was added”, such as the bankruptcy of different banks, including the Silicon Valley bank, in the United States.
“The projection The 2023 growth period is subject to downside risks due to the possibility that the turbulence in the global banking system may reappear and intensify, which would result in a more persistent tightening of global financial conditions,” it warned.
For ECLAC, the region once again has a space this year “limited” for fiscal policy and “it is not to be expected that a cycle of monetary easing in the region will yet be generalized.”
inflation in Latin America and the Caribbean, he added, “It shows a downward trend and, although it is expected that the process of raising interest rates could be near, interest In several countries of the region, the effects of the restrictive policy on private consumption and investment will be felt more strongly this year”.
Latin America, the most unequal in the world and the most affected by the pandemic, it grew 6.9% in 2021, as a rebound after the 6.8% collapse registered in 2020, the biggest recession in 120 years.
The deceleration in the area began in the second half of 2022, which closed with an estimated growth of 3.7%, according to ECLAC, which has not yet delivered the final figure in this regard.