UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Latin America and the Caribbean economies will jointly grow by 1.1 percent in 2017, after two consecutive years of contraction, showed a report released by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on Friday.
ECLAC said in its annual report that Latin America and the Caribbean region will record a positive, though still low, growth rate this year.
The report foresees that, after two years of economic contraction, all countries in the region will experience positive growth rates in 2017 averaging 1.1 percent, with the exception of Venezuela, the GDP of which will drop by 7.2 percent, and two countries in the Caribbean (Saint Lucia and Suriname).
The forecast growth will largely be due to better prices for the commodities that the region exports and an improved international context, the report says.
ECLAC was established by the UN Economic and Social Council resolution 106 (VI) of February 25, 1948 and began to function that same year. ECLAC, which is headquartered in Santiago, Chile, is one of the five regional commissions of the United Nations.
