Guatemala City, by Yuliza Muñoz -AGN-. The study “Financing a sustainable transition: investment for growth and climate change action,” developed by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean -ECLAC-, highlighted Guatemala as one of the countries where inflation has fallen the most.
This survey, published in September, presents an economic analysis of the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean during 2023 and states, “The largest reductions were recorded in Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, and Trinidad and Tobago, where inflation was down by more than four percentage points.”
In response, Álvaro González Ricci, Chairman of the Bank of Guatemala, indicated that in August of this year, the country’s inflation rate stood at 4.47%, which is expected to remain close to the central value of the inflation target of 4.0% +/- 1 percentage point by the end of this year and next year.
Economic Survey
ECLAC published the 75th edition of the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean, which consists of three parts. The first section analyzes the region’s economic performance in 2022 and how it has evolved in 2023. It also examines the growth prospects for this year and 2024.
The other two sections address the macroeconomic consequences of climate change and its repercussions on the region’s economies, as well as the notes relating to the economic performance of the region’s countries.
Guatemala’s Economic Situation
Recently, an article by the U.S. media, Voz de América, highlighted that Guatemala is one of the countries with the lowest debt in the Central American region. It is 22,593 million dollars, equivalent to approximately 30% of the gross domestic product -GDP-.
The comparative table of debt in Central America, compared with percentages of GDP, shows:
- El Salvador, 73% debt
- Costa Rica, 63%
- Panama, 63 %
- Honduras, 54 %
- Nicaragua, 38 %
- Guatemala, 30
