Latin America and the Economic Crisis

The 2008 economic crisis has had profound economic and political impacts across the globe. Although every continent was affected somehow by the crash in 2008, the vigor of the impact and the subsequent recovery differed quite significantly throughout the world. A case-by-case analysis by regions is therefore necessary to draw conclusions from the past and generate assumptions on the future.

As illustrated in figure 1, world output was negative in 2009 as a consequence of the turmoil of 2008. Despite a global GDP decline of 2%, developing countries managed to keep growing at a reduced rate, meaning that the overall recession was largely driven by the developed countries (-4% in 2009).