Investing in Latin America’s Future

Region continues to grow rapidly; needs to adapt to global uncertainty

Capital inflows bring benefits but essential to manage risks

Stronger social policies are key to foster inclusive growth

Werner also noted that large capital inflows, while beneficial for countries in the region, were generating some volatility in domestic financial markets.

Werner joined the IMF in January 2013, leaving a position as head of corporate and investment banking at BBVA Bancomer.

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IMF Survey online : You have just taken up the position of Director of the Western Hemisphere Department. What are your top priorities?

Werner: The Western Hemisphere covers all the countries in the Americas and, therefore, includes a wide mix of countries. Our priorities reflect this diverse mix.

For example, we have the United States, which is seeking to accelerate the pace of its recovery. Here, I think our job is to add value to the ongoing debate on options to speed up the U.S. recovery following its financial crisis, to develop a medium-term fiscal consolidation strategy and to continue strengthening the balance sheet of its financial sector.

The United States has important ties to the rest of the Western Hemisphere. Central America and the Caribbean, for instance, are strongly linked to the U.S. through remittances, exports, and tourism. For these countries, low growth and high debt are the headline issues. So the IMF has to work closely with policymakers in these countries to help them design policies that will put them on a path of higher growth and declining debt-to-GDP levels.

Then we have some countries, like Brazil and Mexico, whose economies are large and systemic. These economies have been extremely healthy and growing, so our role is to provide the best advice possible to continue strengthening their fiscal and monetary frameworks, developing their financial capital markets, and upgrading their regulatory frameworks.

We also have important commodity exporters, such as Chile, Colombia and Peru, which have benefitted substantially from positive terms of trade shocks. As a whole, these countries have grown very strongly in the past decade.

An overarching theme for the whole region will be to adjust and prepare for an uncertain external environment. Commodity prices, which have supported growth in many economies, might stagnate or...