From Collapse to Recovery: Latin America and Caribbean rebound from crisis

With the global economic crisis in the rearview mirror, Latin American economies are on a fast track to full recovery and will post a solid 4 percent growth for 2010.

This is no small feat, says the Bank’s chief regional economist Augusto de la Torre, in his new report on the region’s economic prospects ‘From Collapse to Recovery’ (pdf). The region’s rebound, he explains, is one of the world’s strongest, second only to Asia’s, which is the main engine pushing global economies towards a full-fledged recovery.

Country-wise, Brazil leads the pack with a projected 5.5 percent growth, closely followed by Peru, Chile, Panama and Mexico, individually expected to post growth in the 4 percent range. Other countries –such as Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Paraguay, and Uruguay -will grow closely below the regional projected average of 4 percent and some others, including Venezuela and Jamaica, will either show negligible expansion or fall into negative territory, the report states.

This news is particularly encouraging because “Latin America comes out of this crisis with much less economic contraction than people expected, and without any major domestic financial crisis,” says de la Torre.

See the feature story for more analysis and charts.