The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says while Latin America and Caribbean economies managed to bounce back from COVID-19’s initial economic devastation earlier in 2020, the pandemic’s resurgence towards the end of the year threatens to thwart an uneven recovery and add to the steep social and human costs.
The IMF said early indicators, like industrial production and retail sales, pointed to a continuing comeback in the last quarter of 2020, boosted by sizeable fiscal stimulus, easy global financial conditions, “and economic agents’ resilience and adaptation to the new reality.”
Despite a resurgence of COVID-19 in the region, the IMF revised its regional 2021 growth forecast upwards to 4.1 per cent, based on the stronger than expected performance in 2020, and expectation of expanding vaccination efforts.
