Dominican Republic’s 6.3% growth the region’s highest: ECLAC

Santiago, Chile.- The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean on Friday predicted that  Dominican Republic’s economy will grow 6.3 percent this year, the highest in the entire region, EFE reports.

The agency said the economies of Latin America and the Caribbean will close 2018 with a weak average growth of 1.2%, one tenth less than the 1.3% posted in 2017, in the context of a “complex global scenario.”

In its preliminary balance of the region’s economies for 2018, ECLAC notes that growth weakened this year in both South America, from 0.8% in 2017 to 0.6% this year, as in Central America, Cuba and Haiti (3.4% to 3.2%).

In the Caribbean, meanwhile, recovery after the impact of natural disasters in 2017 contributes to an acceleration of growth, from 0.2% last year to 1.9% in 2018.

At the country level:

Dominican Republic 6.3%, Antigua and Barbuda 5.3%, Grenada 5.2%, Bolivia 4%, Panama 4.2%, Paraguay 4.2%, Chile 3.9%, Peru 3.8%, Honduras 3.7%, Guyana 3.4%, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 3.2% and Costa Rica 3%.

Also Guatemala (2.9%), Bahamas (2.5%), St. Lucia (2.5%), El Salvador (2.4%), Mexico (2.2%), Belize (2.2%). ), Saint Kitts and Nevis (2.1%), Uruguay (1.9%), Suriname (1.9%), Trinidad and Tobago (1.9%), Jamaica (1.5%), Haiti (1.4%), Brazil (1.3%), Cuba (1.1%) and Ecuador (1%).

On the other range of the scale figure Venezuela with a 15%, Dominica with a 4.4% drop, Argentina 2.6% and Barbados 0.5%.

For 2019 ECLAC forecasts a scenario of “greater uncertainties, coming from different front.”