Latin America’s forecast: deeper recession

(Photo: Ariana Cubillos – AP)

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are preparing to put out their annual Latin American economic forecasts, and they won’t look pretty. Judging from what I heard in interviews with their top regional economists, Latin America’s overall economy will contract for the second year in a row in 2016.

What’s worse, the region’s economy is likely to remain depressed for much of the rest of the decade, although some countries will do better than others, the reports — due to be released April 12 — will say.

But before we get into why I’m optimistic that the region may recover sooner than expected, let’s take a quick look at what the world’s two biggest international institutions are thinking.

The IMF makes its own economic projections, while the World Bank does its estimates based on a basket of sources. The IMF spoke on condition that I don’t publish specific numbers before its report’s publication, but only ranges of countries’ projected economic growth.

To continue reading this article click The Miami Herald