Slower growth in 2012

A complicated international environment, mainly due to European debt problems, will result in a slowdown of the regional economy, which is expected to grow by only 3.7% this year, according to the "Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean", recently published by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL, using the Spanish initials).

By comparison, regional GDP grew by 4.1% last year.

Panama will be the leader in the isthmus, with a projected increase in GDP 6.5%, according to CEPAL.

In 2011, Panamanian production grew 10.5%.

In Latin America, the country with the fastest growth is expected to be Haiti, whose economy is still recovering from the earthquake that destroyed much of the country’s productive facilities in 2010.


Numbers reflect the projected growth of output in percentages of each Central American country.

1. Panama 6.5
2. Costa Rica 3.5
3. Nicaragua 3.5 (tie)
4. Guatemala 3.0
5. Honduras 3.0 (tie)
6. El Salvador 2.0