Latin America and the Caribbean exports grew by 2.9% in the first quarter of this year, which showed a pessimistic outlook compared to the 16.4% growth recorded in 2022, according to Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) data.
“These figures show that the expansive post-Covid trade cycle has come to an end and the region has settled into a trend of slowing down exports destined to continue in the next quarter and to stabilize in the second half of the year,” the chief economist of the IDB’s Integration and Trade Sector, Paolo Giordano, explained.
“The policies and investments aimed at promoting competitive insertion in foreign markets will be key,” Giordano added.
According to the IDB, exports from Mesoamerica, and particularly Mexico, had an estimated 6.3% year-on-year increase in the first quarter of 2023, after growing 16.1% on average in 2022. Meanwhile, shipments to Central America expanded 1.6% year-on-year in that period.
Exports from South America showed a red performance (-0.3%) between January and June after having grown 16.2% on average the previous year.
The markets with the worst performance were Bolivia, with a 23.5% drop compared to 2022; Venezuela, which fell 20.2%; and Argentina, which subtracted 17.9% from its shipments.
On the contrary, the markets with the best performance were Paraguay (23.4%) and Chile (10.7%).
