Search our website enhanced by Google.
- Home
- South America, Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic: Economic overview
South America, Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic: Economic overview
The economies of Central and South America, and the Caribbean have faced numerous challenges over the last few years. These include the impact of COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war and the burgeoning pressures from increasing inflation.
Gross domestic product (GDP) in Latin America and the Caribbean is expected to fall from 4% in 2022 to 1.6% in 2023 as inflation remains high. GDP is forecast to increase to 2.2% in 2024, still below levels seen in 2021 and 2022.
Since the pandemic, the economies of CAPDR have performed better than those of South America as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. GDP growth in Central and South America, %
est – estimate, f – forecast
Source: IMF
Looking ahead, higher growth is expected in CAPDR, compared with South America, especially in Panama and the Dominican Republic. In South America, Venezuela and Paraguay are forecast to have the highest GDP growth.
Brazil has the largest population in South America and CAPDR, at just under 214 million people in 2022. This is expected to rise by 1% in 2023, to 215 million people. The population of the rest of South America and CAPDR is expected to increase by 0.3–2% between 2022 and 2023, with the exception of Venezuela where a decline of 1.4% is projected (Source: IMF).
Continue reading about the South America, Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic market
Market access and barriers to trade