According to a SELA report
Net transfer of resources negative for Latin America
and the Caribbean in 2001

Caracas, 17 December - For the third year in a row, Latin America and the Caribbean have shown a negative net transfer of resources, according to the report "Latin America and the Caribbean: Preliminary economic results in 2001,  released recently by the Latin American Economic System (SELA).

The study, which offers an analysis of the past ten years, says that from 1991 to 1998 the region enjoyed a positive balance in terms of the financial resources it received.

In 1993 and 1997 the region had outstanding results as it posted favourable balances of more than $30 billion in resources received.

But since 1999 net transfers of resources have been negative for the region, with 2001 being the third consecutive year. According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), this shows that the region has not yet recovered from the economic crisis that crippled southeast Asia in mid-1997, the document says.

In addition, the report says that the total Latin American debt figure is expected to reach approximately $784 billion this year - an increase of $30 billion compared with the close in the year 2000.

The regional debt figure is basically a preliminary estimate, the international organization said. The definite result will depend heavily on the close of the debt figure for Argentina, which is now facing very unstable macroeconomic conditions.

The SELA study, which includes an economic analysis of the region during the past decade, shows a substantial increase of the foreign debt, which in 1991 amounted to $450 billion.

The report also says that the Andean countries show the highest economic growth projections for 2001, as their production growth estimates surpass those of Mexico, and the countries of Central America, the Caribbean and the Southern Cone.

SELA estimates that Mexico - the second largest economy of the region after Brazil - shows a production growth trend around zero percent in 2001 because of the impact of the U.S. economic recession.

Countries in Central American and the Caribbean would post economic growth rates around 0.8 percent, because they will also be badly hit by the U.S. economic slowdown. The Andean Group countries - Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela - are expected to post an economic growth of about 2.78 percent. The key factor for this increase in production in 2001 is the price of crude oil exports.

Recession is expected to hit the Southern Cone countries due to the adverse conditions for economic growth in the countries with greatest economic power in the world and the instability in Argentina, the report adds.

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