Economic activity

The Latin American and Caribbean region recorded GDP growth of 2.6% in 2013, down from 3.1% in 2012. The 2013 performance represented a gain of 1.6% (2.0% in 2012) in the region's per capita GDP, less than half the average growth rate for this indicator over 2004-2008 (3.7%). These results testify to the continuation of the economic slowdown that has beleaguered the region since 2011. Aside from the regional performance, the countries' growth rates differed significantly. Sluggish regional growth in 2013 partly reflects the lackluster performance of the two largest economies in Latin America and the Caribbean: Brazil (2.4%) and Mexico (1.3%).3 Excluding these two countries, the region's GDP rose by 4.1%. Economic growth was most robust in Paraguay (13%), followed by Panama (7.5%), the Plurinational State of Bolivia (6.4%) and Peru (5.2%). The economies of Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Guyana, Haiti, Nicaragua and Uruguay grew at between 4% and 5% (see figure II.1).

Related Subject(s): Economic and Social Development