The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has published, as it does every year, a paper looking at the economic performance in the Americas.

Published in October 2017, the IMF points to the gradual recovery in 2017-2018 of economic activity in Latin America, but noting that despite this long-term growth, expansion is slow, making it hard to reach the levels of developed economies.

The paper reports the end of the recessions in Argentina and Brazil as one of the factors which has enabled economic activity to steadily recover.

On this topic, it identifies the following internal risk factors to economic growth: (i) uncertainty about the political direction that will be taken in Latin American countries on the brink of elections; as well as (ii) the knock-on effects in other countries of the current crisis in Venezuela, with the humanitarian crisis and the corresponding migration of Venezuelan citizens to neighboring countries causing the greatest concern. It identifies as external risks: (i) changes of direction in capital flows and tighter financial conditions; (ii) financial stability risks in China, (iii) the reversal of cross-border economic integration; and (iv) natural disasters and climate change.

Lastly, the IMF analyzes performance and outlooks, together with the economic policy priorities that must be tackled in South American countries, Mexico, Central America, Panama, Dominican Republic and the Caribbean.