Unleashing Central America's Growth Potential
Central America’s priority is to recover from its deepest economic contraction and restore strong, sustainable economic growth. With increases in working age population projected to decline sharply, strong growth in the long run can only be achieve...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/782621618992892153/Unleashing-Central-Americas-Growth-Potential http://hdl.handle.net/10986/35503 |
| Summary: | Central America’s priority is to recover
from its deepest economic contraction and restore strong,
sustainable economic growth. With increases in working age
population projected to decline sharply, strong growth in
the long run can only be achieved with higher productivity.
More effective participation in global value chains (GVCs),
as well as a robust shift towards sophisticated exports of
goods and services will be needed, but neither can be
ensured without firms investing in productivity-enhancing
innovations. With a high likelihood of limited structural
change, greater aggregate productivity must come from within
each sector of manufacturing, services and agriculture. The
synthesis report analyzes the main findings of the
Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential Study,
focusing on productivity and export performance of the
region over the past three decades and accounting for the
impact of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic on the region.
It aims to identify broad strategic directions for the
region that would help to increase sophistication of
exports, reduce productivity gaps within the region and
vis-à-vis other regions, and achieve higher productivity
growth. Where relevant, the report suggests areas for
further work that could help develop more granular policy
recommendations. The rest of this synthesis report is
organized as follows: the first section provides an overview
of the growth performance of the region over the last thirty
years, and provides the current and future challenges facing
the region; the second section reviews the performance of
productivity growth during 1991-2017; and the third section
reviews the growth of exports of goods and services during 1991-2017. |
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