Latin America

Despite hurricane damage, average economic growth in the Caribbean is expected to top the Latin American average according to the IMF. However, Dominica's GDP is expected to decline and weak growth is likely in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands where pre-existing macroeconomic weaknesses were compounded by storm damage.

Peso volatility and investor caution are likely to linger through the middle of the year.

In this Northern Triangle nation, as elsewhere in Latin America, weighing the risks and rewards of foreign direct investment leads to difficult choices.

Just two of several programs over the past two years have attracted $45 million from local and foreign private inerests and created at least 8,000 jobs.

Overall global FDI declined last year with developed economies seeing a decrease in flows even as developing economies saw an increase.

Latin American countries dominate the top ten rankings of the best places to retire in 2018. 

Turning old violent areas into competitive coffee producers still faces some obstacles.

Meirelles has fed his political ambitions since vacating his position as president of global banking at FleetBoston Financial in 2002, when he retired and returned to the state of Goiás, his homeland. 

Venezuela’s external debt is variously estimated between $120 billion and $143 billion, including as much as $63 billion of foreign bonds. 

Brazil's healthy food and drinks market, now the sixth biggest in the world, is becoming a magnet for global food giants like Nestle and Unilever.

Enrique Marshall, Chairman, Banco del Estado de Chile, winner of the Safest Bank in Latin America award 2017, spoke with Global Finance magazine editor Andrea Fiano about what he thinks of Chile's economy and the banking ecosystem in the country.

ManuelJesus Bautista, Governor, Central Bank of Honduras won an “A” grade in Global Finance’s annual Central Banker Report Cards 2017. He spoke with magazine editor Andrea Fiano about the growth prospects for Honduras' economy and how the country could see an increased rate of inflation for 2017.

As Latin America’s laggards recover, growth is trending toward a regional norm of slow but steady.

Carlos Fernandéz Valdovinos, governor of the central bank of Paraguay, was among the world’s top central bankers in Global Finance Magazine’s annual Central Banker Report Cards. Here, he talks with GFMag editor Andrea Fiano about how recovery in big neighboring economies is giving the Paraguayan economy a lift, and the need for reforms to continue.

Ilan Goldfajn, governor, central bank of Brazil, one of the top-rated governors in Global Finance’s annual Central Banker Report Cards, talks with Magazine editor Andrea Fiano about the progress of reforms in Brazil and how it has impacted the country and the region politically as well as economically. 

The country recorded a GDP growth of 2.7% for the second quarter of  2017 after almost two years of negative growth. 

The bank's CEO Jose Marcos Ramirez Miguel sees less risk now from revising the regional trade deal, even a "very positive impact" on Mexico's economy.

After more than seven years at the head of Bank of Mexico, Agustín Carstens, 59, leaves a country “more resilient,” he tells Global Finance Magazine, as he moves to a new post at the Bank for International Settlements. With the Americas at risk from rising protectionism, Carstens emphasizes the benefits of NAFTA. It’s better, he says, to tackle directly the negative impacts of globalization than to push back against widely beneficial economic integration.  

The bank's chief economist Rodrigo Aravena sees more growth for the country and the region although economic risks remain.

These are the ratings for central bank governors for the Americas region in 2017.