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A Different Perspective for the Financial Crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

João Clemente Baena Soares*
Affiliation:
Organization of American States

Extract

The Latin American and Caribbean countries are facing a serious financial crisis. External debt in the region is over $360 billion, and seven South American countries are among the ten largest debtors in the world. Interest payments alone required, in the years of 1982, 1983, and 1984, more than 35% of total regional exports of goods and services, a percentage which reached the extreme level of over 50% for one country. To be sure, this problem mostly affects the largest economies, since most of the Central American and Caribbean countries apply to interest payments less than 20% of their exports. The debt problem is a reality for the entire region, and it makes it difficult for all the countries to obtain new external financing.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1985

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Footnotes

*

This article draws on ideas contained in the Economy of Latin America and the Caribbean: Analysis and Interpretations Prompted by the Financial Crisis, published by the OAS General Secretariat, 1984.

References

Cline, W. (1984) International Debt. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Comisión Económica para América Latina (CEPAL) (1984). Balance Preliminar de la Economía Latinoamericana durante 1984. Santiago, Chile: Naciones Unidas, CEPAL, December.Google Scholar
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (FRB-St. Louis) (1984). International Economic Conditions. St. Louis, MO: FRB-St. Louis, August.Google Scholar
Massad, C. (1983) ‘América Latina - Aspectas Principales del Financiamiento Externo.” Estudios Internacionales (University of Chile) (April-June).Google Scholar
Organization of American States (OAS) (1984) The Economy of Latin America and the Caribbean: Analysis and Interpretations Prompted by the Financial Crisis. Washington, DC: OAS General Secretariat.Google Scholar