HispanicBusiness

This time around, the world economic contraction that started in the United States has hit the Latin American and Caribbean economies less severely. This was revealed by the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Alicia Barcena at the presentation of the yearly Preliminary Overview on the performance of the region's economies, for the year running.

However, 2009 was a bad year. The Latin American and Caribbean economies contracted at an average yearly rate of 1.8 percent, equivalent to a decrease of almost 3 percent in per capita income.

As usual, regional averages hide individual performances. For instance, the economies of the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico were more affected by the contraction, than those of South America, mainly due to their proximity to the United States.

Further, this year's negative economic performance interrupted the previous six years of sustained economic growth, at a quite respectable average yearly rate of around 5 percent.

However, this time, the region was better prepared to withstand the external shock. ECLAC identified some of the factors which contributed to this strength, such as healthier macroeconomic policies, the rebound in some commodity prices and the countercyclical policies adopted to cope with the crisis.

Based on these factors, ECLAC has revised upwards the projection of economic growth in the region for 2010, to 4.1 percent. This projection is more optimistic, for instance, than the last projection of about 3 percent growth in 2010, for Latin America and the Caribbean, presented recently by the International Monetary Fund.

Isaac Cohen is the former director of the Washington Office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). He is a commentator on economic and financial issues for CNN en Espanol TV and radio.