ECLAC revises downward Caribbean growth

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has revised slightly downward its 2015 economic growth projection for the region, forecasting now a one per cent increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). ECLAC said that the revision “reflects a global environment characterized by less economic dynamism than what was expected at the end of 2014”.With the exception of the United States, ECLAC noted that industrialized countries have revised their growth estimates downward, adding that emerging economies continue to decelerate.

“The particularities of the region’s economies, in terms of their economic structures and their modes of insertion in the global economy, account for the significant heterogeneity in the magnitude and way in which external shocks have affected them,” ECLAC said.
It said the growth forecasts for economies specialized in commodities production, particularly oil and minerals have seen the biggest declines, pointing to South America and Trinidad and Tobago. At the same time, ECLAC said those with greater links to the US economy, and which benefit from lower crude prices, have the best forecasts: Central America and the English-speaking Caribbean.

http://www.caribbean360.com/business/eclac-revises-downward-caribbean-g…