October 1, 2005
GDP growth: Venezuela best in Latin America this year

(Latin Business Chronicle) - "Venezuela and Argentina will post the strongest GDP growth in Latin America this year. Overall Latin America will see lower growth this year compared with 2004.

The rise in oil prices have benefitted some countries in Latin American, most notably Venezuela (...)The region is expected to see a GDP increase of 4.1 percent this year, a rate lower than last year's rate of 5.6 percent, the IMF forecasts in its latest World Economic Outlook, released in September. That 2005 estimate is slighly lower than the forecast from the United Nations Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which in August predicted a Latin American economic growth rate of 4.3 percent this year.

'In Latin America, growth has moderated to a more sustainable pace after a sharp rebound in 2004,' the fund says in its outlook. 'Strong commodity and raw material exports and-in most large economies- broad terms-of-trade gains continue to support the growth momentum, although manufacturing exports have weakened somewhat in tandem with the slowdown in global manufacturing.'

Venezuela will likely end the year with an economic expansion of 7.8 percent, the IMF forecasts. ECLAC's forecast is 7.0 percent.

However, both figures mark a slowdown compared with last year's growth rate of 17.9 percent, which was Latin America's best performance last year as well".