Is Latin America Booming? Not Quite Yet
Andres Oppenheimer
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If a Martian had descended on earth last week and read the headlines, he would have thought that
Time magazine had just released its ranking of the 100 Most Influential People in the world, with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio
Simultaneously, a story by the EFE news agency quoted Francisco Luzon, a top executive of
Hours earlier, the spring annual meetings of the
One of the
Among the report's projections:
-- Brazil will be the economic star of the region this year, followed by
-- Argentina,
--
But are all these political and economic assessments realistic? Would our Martian friend do a good job if he reported back home that
If one looks a little deeper into the headlines, one might come out with a different story.
But his international clout is at best doubtful.
He has not succeeded in achieving his top foreign policy goals, such as reforming the
And he has not done much to make Brazil more competitive in the global economy. Brazil is one of the most bureaucratic countries in the world, and this year fell to the 129th place among 183 countries in the
Regarding Latin America's financial system's superiority, if it's true, it may have to do with the weakness -- or greater transparency -- of U.S. and European systems.
As for Latin America's economy in general, it's looking good compared with that of rich countries affected by the global crisis. But it doesn't compare well with
A projection buried in one of the new
My opinion: I hope I'm wrong about this, but I fear that the latest headlines are a fleeting phenomenon influenced by a generalized feeling of despair in
When things are bad, people tend to look for new heroes who they hope will spark new hopes.
But the fact remains that economic progress in the global economy will depend on who comes up with the best new products.
And while
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