Latin America Stays Strong amid Economic Stagnation

As developed nations continue to stagnate and Asian tigers appear to be slowing down, Latin American countries remain resilient. Brazil launched a campaign for competitiveness, Argentina’s trade surplus soars and Mexico’s middle class remains. Even Haiti received praise for measures to improve its business environment.

Through a new campaign for competitiveness, President Dilma Rousseff is determined to reduce the business killing deficiencies in infrastructure and tax structure, known as the “Brazil Cost.” She plans to continue reducing interest rates, below the historic low of 7.5 percent, while cutting certain taxes, increasing the rate of loan disbursements by 8 percent, and reducing electricity costs by 16.2 percent for consumers and 28 percent for industry. Additionally, she has vowed more stimulus amid a 26 percent drop in job growth in the first half of 2012, as well as massive improvements in transportation infrastructure to break the ‘logistical bottlenecks’ that contribute to the “Brazil Cost.”

Moreover, her agenda includes an historic affirmative action law, which seeks to ensure that half of all students at Brazil’s 59 federal universities come from public schools. The new bill, known as the Law of Social Quotas, was approved 80-1 by the Brazilian Senate in early August. Officials expect the number of black students at these universities to rise from 8,700 to 56,000, a small step in the right direction in a country where 51 percent of citizens identify as black or mixed-race.

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