Infrastructure that is up to code is vitally important to sustaining a country’s economy, but even developed countries are falling behind in their infrastructure investment. Effective infrastructure investment needs to be a combined effort of governments, multilateral development banks and private investors, but it lags behind in its appeal to private investors. What measures can be taken to draw more private-sector financing into this crucial foundation of economic growth?
With economic growth returning to the developed world, the end of years of quantitative easing and easy monetary policy is in view; inflation concerns are reviving, guaranteeing rising interest rates along with tightening liquidity. Emerging markets in Latin America are benefiting from higher commodity prices, and despite some political tensions are proving to be an increasingly attractive destination for investor funds.
As economic conditions return to “normal” in the industrial world, policy interest rates will inevitably rise from zero to “normal”—but not necessarily in Latin America and the Caribbean. Central banks in LAC will need to tailor their monetary-policy decisions to tackle the three-pronged challenge of currency depreciation, higher inflation and deceleration in economic activity, as capital flies away from emerging markets.
Brazil’s economy is emerging from a difficult few years—but when analysing its prospects, a positive, long-term view is warranted, based on the country’s important position in world trade. With a little help from its friends and its own internal enterprise, this major South American economy, the world’s ninth largest by nominal GDP, has every reason to expect a triumphant comeback.
In the midst of the political and economic turmoil that has plagued Brazil in recent times, there is one financial sector that appears to have particularly strong credentials for buoyant growth over the coming years.
It’s safe to say that the Brazilian government has had a trust problem in recent years, and that this disconnect from approved practices has detrimentally affected its once vigorous economy. The IMF, in its recent Fiscal Transparency Evaluation for Brazil, took a close look at the areas in which the South American titan is succeeding and failing to live up to fiscal-transparency expectations.
The stability of the global economy continues to oscillate between intermittent recovery and general unease, and the new US presidential administration stands at the crux of its ongoing uncertainty. Various international incidents have influenced the condition of the global economy—the ongoing Brexit saga
Brazil started the decade off as Latin America’s emerging-market darling but has been trapped in a dark economic and political tunnel since early 2014; is the country finally beginning to see the light at the end? One indicator, the Bovespa stock-market index, replies with a resounding yes.
Brazil’s demise has been remarkable. Nearly every major macroeconomic indicator is at historically undesirable levels at present, from unemployment to inflation, and from GDP (gross domestic product) growth to public debt.
2016 is the year that the Olympic Games come to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The world will descend on a country going through its worst economic crisis since at least the 1930s.