Growth and Stability in Latin America and the Caribbean: Challenges for the Epoch of Globalization. Lecture by Mr. Eduardo Aninat, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.Port of Spain, May 26, 2000

The decade of the 1990s has on average been much better for Latin America and the Caribbean than the 'lost decade' of the 1980s and, if we look at it in a broader perspective, probably even better than the decade of the 1970s. This is largely thanks to better economic policies, not spurious improvements in terms of trade. But growth is still too slow and social progress too gradual and too uneven, so there is no room for complacency. Urgent action is needed to strengthen the Region's economic potential and cope with the challenges of globalization—and to do this, countries will have to meet some essential preconditions.