Latin American and Caribbean nations are expected to return to economic growth this year after two consecutive years in the negative column. But when analysts talk about the prospects for 2017, the words they use are slow, shallow recovery and subdued growth.
The U.N.’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean — ECLAC — estimates regional GDP growth will reach 1.3 percent this year, compared to a contraction of 1.1 percent in 2016. Commodity prices are still relatively low but improving, the Chinese economy has slowed, and global growth rates are fairly anemic — with uncertainty in major markets from the United States to the euro area.
