MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Panama and Uruguay with greatest per capita GDP increase in 2008/2012, says Latinvex

Argentina was not included in the ranking because of the controversy over its stats reliability

Panama was the country with the greatest increase in per capita GDP in the last five years, followed by Uruguay, Peru, Dominican Republic and Chile according to a report from the digital publication Latinvex.

As a result Uruguay now has the second highest per capita income in Latin America (up from position four in 2008) and Panama ranks fourth, up from fifth in 2008.

In the same period, 2008/2012, Venezuela registered the lowest increase, which means it has dropped from position three (2008) to position five.

The Latinvex report in based on data and forecasts from the IMF for 18 countries of Latinamerica for this year, the last five and the coming five. GDP figures were calculated based on the PPP (purchasing power parity), and Argentina was not included because of the ongoing controversy over the reliability of its stats, not accepted by IMF.

Latinamerica’s estimated GDP per capita this year is 12.328 dollars, up 3.6% compared to last year.

Chile continues to lead in the region with a per capita income of 18.354 dollars; Uruguay, 15.840; Mexico, 15.300; Panama, 15.266 and Venezuela, 13.242 dollars.

Haiti remains as the poorest country in the region with a per capita income of 1.292 dollars which is fourteen times less than Chile.

In the 2008/2012 period Panama per capita GDP was up 32.4%; Uruguay, 2.7.7%; Peru, 24.1%; Dominican Republic, 19.7% and Chile, 19.5%. In Venezuela during the same period the increase was 2.9%, concludes Latinvex.