MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Latinamerica’s recovery “very slow” and with “rising unemployment”

Alicia Barcena, head of the UN Economic Commission for Latam and the Caribbean

Latinamerica’s recovery will be very show while unemployment keeps a rising tendency, warned on Monday Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary for the United Nations Latinamerica and Caribbean Economic Commission, Cepal.

“The world has entered a stage where growth rates will be less than those we have been accustomed to in recent years”, said economist Barcena during a conference on regional challenges following the financial crisis, held at the OAS building in Washington.

Latinamerica will not escape this tendency and the average expansion will be in the range of 3%, well below what has been recent experience, and which is “insufficient to ensure recovery” from the impact of the economic crisis, added Barcena.

“We need growth in the range of 6% for a steady healthy recovery”, she underlined.

But what is most worrisome is unemployment, and its sustained increase which averages 8.9% in the region, “still very high”.

Barcena said that according to the forecasts from Cepal the region is set to contract 1.9% this year, even when latest positive data “could be indicating that the percentage could fall to 1.5%”.

She emphasized that now “more than ever” countries need to keep sustaining stimulus plans and programs that help the needy and less benefited.

“We can’t let our arms down, social inclusion will not recover automatically”, she said adding that to increase resources Latinamerican countries will have to improve their fiscal systems, since the current level of taxing is barely 18%.

“We have a deficit of State presence. The State is not only a deliverer; it must play a more active role and go well beyond subsidies”, she remarked.