Respected regional beancounters CEPAL/ECLAC has revised its 2012 outlook for the region’s GDP growth and now expects a +3.7% overall average haul for the year. Meanwhile, here’s the CEPAL list of individual countries and where they stand in comparison to that 3.7% benchmark:
Panama leads expectations for this year (+8%), with Haiti (+6%) and Peru (+5.7%) and Bolivia (+5.2%) and Costa Rica (+5%) and Nicaragua (+5%) and Venezuela (+5%) all polling well.
On the flipside, note big Brazil below the average at +2.7%, while the region’s second largest economy Mexico just about scraping in over the average at +4%. Only one country is expected to post a GDP contraction this year, though to be fair Paraguay did post the best 2011 numbers.