Caribbean Economies Could Register Growth In 2015 And 2016: ECLAC

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados CMC – Caribbean economies could register growth over the next two years despite the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC)  predicting a downward trend in the region’s economic activity.

ECLAC said economic growth will decline from 0.5 to minus 0.3 per cent this year and estimates that for 2016 growth will be close to 0.7 per cent.

It said among the main factors behind the growth drop are a weak internal demand; a global environment marked by a low growth of the developed world; an important deceleration in emerging economies, especially China; the strengthening of the US dollar and a growing volatility in financial markets; and an important fall in primary goods prices.

ECLAC said despite the regional trend towards a deceleration, the region’s economies will show differentiated dynamics.

It said growth projections indicate that South American economies will register the biggest deceleration while the Caribbean economies could grow around 1.6 per cent in 2015 and 1.8 per cent in 2016.

“In order to face the economic activity deceleration it is imperative to revert the drop of the investment rate and the lower contribution of the gross capital formation affecting growth since it not only impacts the economic cycle but also the capacity and quality of medium- and long-term growth,” ECLAC warned.

It said energizing investments is a fundamental task to change the current deceleration phase as well as to achieve a path of sustained and sustainable growth in the long term.