IMF Expecting Caribbean Growth to Fall to 1.9%

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is projecting that economic growth in Latin America and the Caribbean will decline from an estimated 2.5% in 2023 to 1.9% this year.
• In its outlook for the world economy this year, envisioning resilient growth led by the United States and a slower pace of inflation, the Washington-based financial institution said that the economic growth in the LAC will rise to 2.5% next year 'with a downward revision for 2024 of 0.4 percentage point compared with the October 2023 world economic outlook (WEO) projection'.
• The IMF said that the forecast revision for the region in 2024 reflects negative growth in Argentina in the context of a significant policy adjustment to restore macroeconomic stability.
• Among other major economies in the region, there are upgrades of 0.2 percentage points for Brazil and 0.6 percentage points for Mexico, largely due to carry-over effects from stronger-than-expected domestic demand and higher-than-expected growth in large trading-partner economies in 2023, it added.
• The IMF now expects the global economy to grow by 3.1% this year, unchanged from 2023 but better than the 2.9% it had predicted for 2024 in its previous estimate in October.
• Worldwide, the IMF believes inflation will ease from 6.8% in 2023 to 5.8% in 2024 and 4.4% in 2025.

(Sources: International Monetary Fund & Trinidad Express Newspapers)