LatAm Leaders See Slower Growth: IDB

An IDB survey of 317 leaders in government private sector, nonprofit organizations, media and academia in 26 LatAm countries reveals they expect the region to see slower growth in the next 4 years. The survey participants expect per capita income to fall or grow moderately in the 2009-2012 period and for governments to rely more on financing from international institutions. Leaders in Nicaragua, Haiti and El Salvador are the most pessimistic, according to the survey. More than two-thirds of the leaders surveyed in those three countries expect per capita income to fall in the next four years. Peru and Chile are among the most optimistic. About a third of the leaders polled in Peru and over a fifth of those in Chile said they expect income per capita increase to exceed population growth by several percentage points. Caribbean and CentAm nations are among the countries where the majority of the leaders expect reliance on financing from international organizations to increase in the next four years. In larger countries such as Brazil, Chile and Mexico, the majority of the leaders expect the reliance on international financing to be little changed. Only in Nicaragua and Haiti do the majority of the leaders expect financing from international organizations to fall.