MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazilian Debt Greatest in Latin America.

The 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean are expected to end 2004 with a gross foreign debt of $776 billion, a report released by Dresdner Bank Lateinamerika said.

This figure is expected to increase to $793 billion by 2005, or 154 percent of total exports from the region, compared with 156 percent this year.

According to the report, Brazil will head this year's list of countries most in debt, with a debt of $222 billion, followed by Mexico, with $161 billion, and Argentina, with $152 billion.

The countries expected to experience the most significant economic growth are Venezuela (12.8 percent), Uruguay (10 percent) and Argentina (6.5 percent). The Dominican Republic (0.30 percent contraction), Paraguay (2.5 percent) and Guatemala (2.8 percent) bring up the rear.

The German bank foresees real regional gross domestic product (GDP) growth for this year of 4.6 percent, to $1.87 trillion, and 3.5 percent in 2005, to $1.93 trillion.