Many economists have noted the ongoing weakness of many European economies, the technical recessions in Japan and Canada, and the slowdown in Chinese economic growth. Latin America has perhaps attracted less attention, but twenty fifteen is shaping up to be the worst year for the region since the two thousand and nine global recession.
According to the International Monetary Fund, Latin America’s economy is expected to shrink zero point two percent this year, the worst performer among developing regions; a group that includes Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and eastern Europe. Latin America’s malaise is largely attributable to what’s happening in Brazil, easily the largest of Latin America’s economies.
The Brazilian economy is expected to shrink around three percent this year and inflation recently hit a twelve year high of ten percent. As reported by CNNMoney, Venezuela is in the midst of its worst recession in seventy years and Argentina is barely growing, in part because of the impacts of its debt default more than a decade ago. Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela jointly represent half of Latin America’s economic activity. The good news – Columbia, Mexico, Chile and Peru have performed better.
