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 News from Around the Americas | January 2008 
DAVOS - Mexico's Ortiz Sees Latam Well Prepared for US Downturn
 Mike Dolan - Reuters
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| | Bank of Mexico governor Guillermo Ortiz attends the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Recession fears have gripped the annual gathering of the global business elite in Davos, with heavy criticism of action by the Federal Reserve to ward off a US contraction. (AFP/Joel Saget) | | |
Latin America's economies cannot escape the fallout from a U.S. recession, given obvious trade and financial links, but they are better placed to weather the storm than ever before, Mexico's central bank chief Guillermo Ortiz said on Wednesday.
Speaking on a panel on the Latin American economic outlook at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Ortiz said: "Latin America today, from a macroeconomic perspective, is as solid as it's ever been - at least in my lifetime."
"The streak of economic growth we have seen in the last five years is the best since the 1960s and 1970s," said Ortiz, citing lower fiscal deficits, better exchange rate management and inflation targetting as positive fundamental improvements.
But Ortiz said he did not believe the rest of the world could decouple from a U.S. recession and Latin America would feel the impact - Mexico maybe moreso because of the huge level of exports it sends to the United States.
"This word of 'decoupling' - I don't think it has any meaning at all."
Yet, Ortiz said Mexico had important buffers to a US downturn - high levels of remittances that should hold stable this year; a growing non-traded sector of the economy and better credit provision to the private sector of the economy."
For full coverage, blogs and TV from Davos see: uk.reuters.com/news/globalcoverage/worldeconomicforum2008 |
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