No Growth Forecast In The Caribbean, Latin America This Year On Heels Of Brexit

By NAN Business Editor

News Americas, WASHINGTON, D.C., Fri. July 22, 2016: The International Monetary Fund this week lowered its growth projection for Latin America and the Caribbean to zero on the heels of Britain’s decision last month to exit the European Union, or Brexit.

The IMF said Tuesday in its latest World Economic Outlook report that Latin America and the Caribbean will experience a negative growth this year of 0.4 percent, down from a 0.1 growth forecast in April. However, the region could bounce back to 1.6 percent growth in 2017, up from the initial forecast of 0.1. Brazil specifically is forecast to see a loss of 3.3 percent this year but Mexico is still expected to grow at a rate of 2.5 percent.

The IMF also lowered its growth projection for the global economy to 3.1 percent for 2016. The latest forecast is down by 0.1 percentage points from the IMF’s previous estimate in April. For 2017, it reduced the world economic growth forecast by 0.1 point to 3.4 percent.