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WASHINGTON, Dec 14 2015 – Exports from the region will drop about 14 percent in 2015 due to a steep decline in prices and weak demand for the region’s main exports from key trading partners, according to a new report from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The IDB’s “Latin American and Caribbean Trade Trend Estimates 2016” annual report notes that exports dropped for the third year in a row, with the decline intensifying and spreading to virtually all nations in the region. Only two countries posted positive, albeit moderate growth, while in most of the economies the drop in overseas shipments exceeded that of the rest of the world.
“This trade contraction, which is the worst since the 2009 collapse, is a wake-up call on the need to implement export diversification policies,” said Paolo Giordano, Principal Economist of the Bank’s Integration and Trade Sector and coordinator of the report.
Oil-exporting countries were affected the most by the sharp drop in petroleum prices. Venezuela and Colombia posted the biggest contraction rates, followed by Bolivia, Ecuador, and Trinidad and Tobago. El Salvador and Guatemala were the only two countries where exports rose, due to a strong increase in their sugar shipments to China.
The report includes detailed data from 24 countries in the region. For the first time, it includes data from six Caribbean nations: Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago.
