The Dominican Republic is on an upward growth path only second to Panama in the Central America and Mexico region, as forecast by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC-CEPAL).
On Tuesday, 23 August 2022, ECLAC released findings of its Economic Survey for Latin America and the Caribbean 2022: trends and challenges of Investing for a sustainable and inclusive recovery. ECLAC estimates are that the 16 regional nations will not have yet recovered their GDP to levels prior to the Covid-19 pandemic by the end of 2022. The overall average growth forecast for the Latin American and Caribbean region, nevertheless, was upped from 1.8% to 2.7%.
ECLAC forecasts that South America will grow 2.6% (in comparison with 6.9% in 2021); the group made up of Central America and Mexico will expand 2.5% (in comparison with 5.7% in 2021); and the Caribbean – the only subregion that will grow more than in 2021 – will experience a 4.7% expansion in 2022, without including Guyana (in comparison with 4.0% a year earlier).
The forecast for the Dominican Republic is for a year’s end GDP growth of 5.3%. Neighboring Haiti, nevertheless, is forecast to suffer a -0.2% growth.
The Dominican Republic is only behind Panama (7%), in the Central America and Mexico region. Other regional countries are Guatemala (4.0%), Honduras (3.8%), Costa Rica (3.3%), Cuba (3.0%), Nicaragua (3.0%) and Mexico (1.9%) and Haiti (-0.2%).
ECLAC says countries in the Caribbean (excluding Guyana) will grow on average 4.7%, indicating tourism is recovering in the region.
The Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean report points to the continued impact at the domestic level of strong inflationary pressures, little dynamism in job creation and investment declines at the time of growing social demands. At an international level, the region is impacted by low growth and accelerating inflation seen in the global economy, coupled with lower growth in trade, the dollar’s appreciation and tougher global financial conditions.
This situation has translated into major challenges for macroeconomic policy, which must strike a balance between policies that would drive the economic reactivation and policies aimed at controlling inflation and ensuring the sustainability of public finances.
Read more:
ECLAC
The Economic Survey 2022
24 August 2022