South America Weathers the Economic Storm
As Haitians take to the streets over rising food prices and Americans fret at the gas pump, South Americans seem to be weathering the hemisphere's economic storm fairly well.
According to The Economist, on the whole, South American economies are doing better now than at any time since the 1960s, growing an average of 5 percent a year since 2004. So far, the U.S. credit crunch has had little noticeable affect on South America's economy. In fact, some investors are buying even more South American bonds than ever due to declining U.S. interest rates. And with their expanding economies and low cost of living, South America is becoming more popular for North American property investors.
In the near future, The Economist says, it's expected that the mild U.S. recession and slowing world economy will curb South America's economic growth only slightly. But some economists attribute the past years' steady growth to global economic conditions which may not be so favorable in the future. The real concern is what happens in 2009, when decreased remittances and decreased demand for exports take their toll.
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South America, global economic crisis
I would like to make reference to Colombia, which is a country growing at a rate above 5%, and who is receiving foreign exchange from colombians working abroad, foreing investment due to a higher rate of interest(9%) when compared with that in the States and Europe, revaluation of the colombian peso and price increases in exports of food , oil and other industries.However, if conditions change in the United States and that economy gets out of recession, foreing capital will be more limited.So we need to take advantage of the opportunity and to invest in new industries for exporting and in infrastructure to compete in global trade.Our greatest problem is that the budget for education and health is very limited and there is a lot unemployment among young people. So the concentration of wealth is going up day by day and poor people do not see the benefits of gloablization.
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