Latin American Economies Roundtable

The Latin American Economies Roundtable brings together a small group of leading economic analysts from the public and private sectors to analyze the state of Latin American and Caribbean economies, how they are affected by the external environment, and best policy options. The group meets to share information, assess developments, diagnose problems, exchange ideas on appropriate policy responses, and disseminate insights and conclusions through private meetings and reports. The roundtable is a joint initiative of the Dialogue, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Tulane University, and is directed by Peter Hakim and Nora Lustig.

Latin American Economies Roundtable (LAER) Tenth Meeting
Coordinators: Peter Hakim and Nora Lustig
Inter-American Dialogue
May 3, 2010

Participants at the tenth LAER session focused on two main topics: (1) outlook for expected growth of Latin America’s economies, specifically Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, and (2) the global effects of the sovereign debt crisis in Greece and the rest of Europe. The economists agreed that Latin America’s economies will perform well in 2010 due to a resilient and well managed banking system, although underlying microeconomic policies in need of reform could limit growth in the middle term.

“This is certainly a far better situation than any one of us would have imagined one or two years ago,” one economist noted. Due to stable macroeconomic policies and sound management, Latin America’s economies emerged from the financial crisis relatively unscathed. While growth in the region was negative or low in 2009 (-6.5 to +2 %) the IMF predicts the region to grow at a rate of 4% for 2010 due to low credit spreads and high debt issues. In short, all financing windows are open. The European sovereign debt crisis is worrying for the global economy, and a second recession in the short term (double dip) is not out of the question. Paradoxically, Latin America could actually benefit from the Greece/Euro sovereign debt crisis— Latin America’s well managed economies look increasingly more attractive for investment as poorly performing areas of the Eurozone lose capital investments. However, this could create the typical vulnerabilities associated with rising volatile capital inflows.

Resources

READ Nora Lustig's blog:

Views from the Center

Roundtable Coordinators

Peter Hakim, Inter-American Dialogue
Nora Lustig, Tulane University

Staff

Chris Cote, Inter-American Dialogue

Recent Roundtable Topics

Stable Macroeconomics Drive Growth in Latin America. May 3, 2010.
Latin America’s Economic Prospects to Improve in 2010. January 20, 2010.
Recovery On Its Way, Though Substantial Downside Risks Remain. September 24, 2009.
Reasons for Cautious Optimism? June 16, 2009.
Forecasting Economic Recovery in Latin America and Around the Globe. April 22, 2009.
- Related Link: Center for the Study of Economic and Social Affairs (CERES) director, Ernesto Talvi, shares his analysis in a power point presentation, "Policy Trade-Offs for Unprecedented Times."
Capital Shortage and the Need for Multilateral Financing in Latin America. December 16, 2008.
Latin America's Vulnerability to the Global Credit Crunch. October 21, 2008.
- Related Link: Center for the Study of Economic and Social Affairs (CERES) director, Ernesto Talvi, shares his analysis in a power point presentation "Latin America in the Aftermath of the U.S. Financial Crisis."
Rising Commodity Prices and the Challenge of Inflation. June 30, 2008.
- Related Link: Center for Global Development Senior Fellow, Liliana Rojas-Suarez, comments on the International Financial Crisis
How does the US Economic Downturn Affect Latin America? March 24, 2008.

About the Latin American Economies roundtable

Description
The Latin American Economies Roundtable
brings together a small group
of leading economic analysts
from government agencies,
international financial institutions,
the private sector, think-tanks
and universities. Participants analyze
the state of Latin American and
Caribbean economies, how they are
affected by the external environment
and what are the best policy options.

The group meets periodically in closed
sessions to share information,
assess and interpret
developments, diagnose potential
problems, and exchange ideas
about appropriate policy responses by
governments and others. The insights
and conclusions from the Roundtable
are disseminated through private
meetings and our meeting reports.

The Roundtable is a joint project
between the Inter-American
Dialogue, the Carnegie Endowment
for International Peace and Tulane
University.

Participants
Hugo Beteta, Inter-American Development Bank
Nancy Birdsall, Center for Global Development
Barry Bosworth, Brookings Institution
Mauricio Cárdenas, Brookings Institution
Augusto de la Torre, World Bank
Robert Devlin, U.N. Economic Commission for Latin America
and the Caribbean (ECLAC)
Nicolas Eyzaguirre, International Monetary Fund
Alejandro Foxley, Carnegie Endowment
Michael Gavin, Citadel Investment Group LLC
Martin Gruenberg, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Frederick Jaspersen, Institute of International Finance, Inc.
Steve Kamin, Federal Reserve Board
Nancy Lee, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Santiago Levy, Inter-American Development Bank
Luis Lopez-Calva, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
Claudio Loser, Inter-American Dialogue
Jorge Mariscal, Rohatyn Group, LLC
Gray Newman, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
Brian O'Neill, Erste Bank Supervisory Board
Steve Phillips, International Monetary Fund
Jeffrey Puryear, Inter-American Dialogue
Robert Rennhack, International Monetary Fund
Liliana Rojas-Suarez, Center for Global Development
Barbara Ryan, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
Michael Shifter, Inter-American Dialogue
Klaus Veigel, American University
John Williamson, Peterson Institute for International Economics

Contact
Chris Cote