{
  "title": "Latin America: Making the Good Times Better",
  "publication": "IMF Blog, February 25, 2011",
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2011/02/25/latin-americas-better-tomorrow",
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  "summary": "Author: Dominique Strauss-Kahn",
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    {
      "heading": "Context and framing",
      "content": "- Author: Dominique Strauss-Kahn\n- Date: February 25, 2011\n- Theme: Latin America has enjoyed tremendous economic dynamism and a rising quality of life in recent years, but faces new challenges to sustain progress.\n- Framing questions the author will discuss on travels through Panama, Uruguay, and Brazil:\n  - Can there be too much of a good thing? (una época de vacas gordas)\n  - Are countries equipped to handle future times of lean? (la época de vacas flacas)\n  - How best to share these times of plenty—across society, and with future generations? (Como compartir—y prolongar—la época de las vacas gordas?)"
    },
    {
      "heading": "Near-term macroeconomic risks and policy responses",
      "content": "- Findings and risks:\n  - Latin America’s economies are growing rapidly, buoyed by good access to external financing and high commodity prices.\n  - Potential signs of overheating: rising inflation, rapidly growing credit, and booming stock markets.\n  - Boom-to-bust dynamics are a key near-term risk if policymakers do not act early.\n- Policy recommendations:\n  - Withdraw macroeconomic stimulus adopted during the global crisis; some countries are already doing so.\n  - Begin adjustment with fiscal policy to reduce the burden on monetary policy.\n  - In some cases, take action on both fiscal and monetary fronts when inflationary pressures rise.\n  - Preserve exchange rate flexibility; appreciation can help temper capital inflows by making foreign investors think twice about future exchange rate risk.\n  - Tighten prudential measures to protect financial stability.\n  - Capital controls may be useful temporarily in some cases, but should not substitute for macro or prudential measures."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Readiness for future shocks",
      "content": "- Findings:\n  - The global financial crisis (2008-2009) is only just receding; the global economy remains exposed to downside risks.\n  - Latin America bounced back from the crisis much better than most other regions, benefiting from policy buffers and reduced vulnerabilities built in times of plenty.\n  - Over the last decade, countries across the region have:\n    - strengthened their policy frameworks,\n    - lowered public debt,\n    - increased foreign reserve buffers,\n    - allowed greater exchange rate flexibility,\n    - improved financial supervision and regulation.\n- Policy priorities going forward:\n  - Rebuild fiscal space; bring debts down to safe levels where needed (Panama cited as already working in this direction).\n  - Strengthen financial stability frameworks:\n    - Develop better tools to monitor risks within and across institutions.\n    - Empower regulators and supervisors to take early preventive action.\n    - Strengthen macroprudential financial regulations (Brazil cited as an example)."
    },
    {
      "heading": "Sharing prosperity and structural reforms",
      "content": "- Findings:\n  - The region has lifted tens of millions out of poverty over the past decade.\n  - Uruguay example: the poverty rate has fallen by 10 percentage points since 2004.\n  - The region remains profoundly unequal, with about a third of its people living in poverty.\n- Policy recommendations to sustain and share growth:\n  - Pursue reforms that boost productivity, including revitalizing infrastructure and improving education and training.\n  - Improve the business climate and strengthen governance for a pro-growth strategy.\n  - Enhance social protection:\n    - Make the social safety net more effective.\n    - Support innovative conditional cash transfer programs—example: Brazil’s bolsa familia program.\n    - Raise social spending and improve the quality of service delivery in education, health, and public infrastructure.\n- Strategic imperative:\n  - Capitalize on today’s favorable conditions to transform countries to the next level and ensure the benefits of growth are more widely shared.\n\nSource: IMF blog post “Latin America: Making the Good Times Better,” Dominique Strauss-Kahn, February 25, 2011.\n\n---\n\n Content in this bundle\n\n- América Latina: Como transformar o bom de hoje no melhor de amanhã\n  - América Latina: Como transformar o bom de hoje no melhor de amanhã (Markdown version){rel=\"alternate\" type=\"text/markdown\"}\n  - América Latina: Como transformar o bom de hoje no melhor de amanhã (PDF){rel=\"external\" type=\"application/pdf\"}\n\n---\n\nSource: https://www.imf.org/en/blogs/articles/2011/02/25/latin-americas-better-tomorrow"
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    "Authors: Dominique Strauss-Kahn",
    "Published: February 25, 2011",
    "Author: Dominique Strauss-Kahn",
    "Date: February 25, 2011",
    "Theme: Latin America has enjoyed tremendous economic dynamism and a rising quality of life in recent years, but faces new challenges to sustain progress.",
    "Framing questions the author will discuss on travels through Panama, Uruguay, and Brazil:",
    "Findings and risks:",
    "Policy recommendations:",
    "Findings:",
    "Policy priorities going forward:",
    "Findings:",
    "Policy recommendations to sustain and share growth:",
    "Strategic imperative:",
    "**América Latina: Como transformar o bom de hoje no melhor de amanhã**"
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