Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Cross-Cutting Themes - Strengthening Productive Links and Managing Volatility
Central America comprises a diverse set of countries, including two high-middle-income countries (Costa Rica and Panama), two of the poorest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (Honduras and Nicaragua), and two middle-income economies (Gua...
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| Format: | Report |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2021
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/454661627621111640/Cross-Cutting-Themes-Unleashing-Central-America-s-Growth-Potential http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36051 |
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okr-10986-360512021-08-05T05:10:35Z Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Cross-Cutting Themes - Strengthening Productive Links and Managing Volatility Ulku, Hulya Zaourak, Gabriel Ulku, Hulya Zaourak, Gabriel REGIONAL TRADE INTEGRATION ECONOMIC GROWTH GROWTH DRIVERS TRADE FACILITATION GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT LABOR MOBILITY EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS INFORMAL ECONOMY FISCAL POLICY BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INVESTMENT CLIMATE PRODUCTIVITY TRADE VOLATILITY REMITTANCES Central America comprises a diverse set of countries, including two high-middle-income countries (Costa Rica and Panama), two of the poorest countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (Honduras and Nicaragua), and two middle-income economies (Guatemala and El Salvador). Low productivity and weak institutions are behind the modest economic growth in Central America in recent years. Both the common features and striking differences among Central American countries provide a fertile ground for exploiting complementarities. Common features include: (i) strong economic links to the United States; (ii) high labor mobility across countries and a high level of informality; (iii) the relatively poor quality of infrastructure, including border crossings; (iv) a concentration of poverty in rural areas, with a low provision of public services, that affect particularly vulnerable groups such as indigenous and Afro-descendent populations; and (v) a high exposure to natural disasters and economic and financial volatility. The economies of each of the six countries in the sub-region were heavily affected by Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In order to restore economic activity in the short run and increase potential output over the long run, Central America should launch coordinated policy action in five areas: (i) global value chain (GVCs); (ii) trade integration; (iii) formalization; (iv) management of volatility; and (v) remittances (for the northern Central American countries). The findings and recommendations emerging from the analyses are presented in the report. 2021-08-04T18:15:13Z 2021-08-04T18:15:13Z 2021-07-30 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/454661627621111640/Cross-Cutting-Themes-Unleashing-Central-America-s-Growth-Potential http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36051 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: General Economy, Macroeconomics and Growth Study Latin America & Caribbean Central America Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
REGIONAL TRADE INTEGRATION ECONOMIC GROWTH GROWTH DRIVERS TRADE FACILITATION GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT LABOR MOBILITY EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS INFORMAL ECONOMY FISCAL POLICY BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INVESTMENT CLIMATE PRODUCTIVITY TRADE VOLATILITY REMITTANCES |
| spellingShingle |
REGIONAL TRADE INTEGRATION ECONOMIC GROWTH GROWTH DRIVERS TRADE FACILITATION GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT LABOR MOBILITY EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS INFORMAL ECONOMY FISCAL POLICY BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT INVESTMENT CLIMATE PRODUCTIVITY TRADE VOLATILITY REMITTANCES Ulku, Hulya Zaourak, Gabriel Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Cross-Cutting Themes - Strengthening Productive Links and Managing Volatility |
| geographic_facet |
Latin America & Caribbean Central America Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama |
| description |
Central America comprises a diverse set
of countries, including two high-middle-income countries
(Costa Rica and Panama), two of the poorest countries in
Latin America and the Caribbean (Honduras and Nicaragua),
and two middle-income economies (Guatemala and El Salvador).
Low productivity and weak institutions are behind the modest
economic growth in Central America in recent years. Both the
common features and striking differences among Central
American countries provide a fertile ground for exploiting
complementarities. Common features include: (i) strong
economic links to the United States; (ii) high labor
mobility across countries and a high level of informality;
(iii) the relatively poor quality of infrastructure,
including border crossings; (iv) a concentration of poverty
in rural areas, with a low provision of public services,
that affect particularly vulnerable groups such as
indigenous and Afro-descendent populations; and (v) a high
exposure to natural disasters and economic and financial
volatility. The economies of each of the six countries in
the sub-region were heavily affected by Coronavirus disease
2019 (COVID-19). In order to restore economic activity in
the short run and increase potential output over the long
run, Central America should launch coordinated policy action
in five areas: (i) global value chain (GVCs); (ii) trade
integration; (iii) formalization; (iv) management of
volatility; and (v) remittances (for the northern Central
American countries). The findings and recommendations
emerging from the analyses are presented in the report. |
| author2 |
Ulku, Hulya |
| author_facet |
Ulku, Hulya Ulku, Hulya Zaourak, Gabriel |
| format |
Report |
| author |
Ulku, Hulya Zaourak, Gabriel |
| author_sort |
Ulku, Hulya |
| title |
Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Cross-Cutting Themes - Strengthening Productive Links and Managing Volatility |
| title_short |
Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Cross-Cutting Themes - Strengthening Productive Links and Managing Volatility |
| title_full |
Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Cross-Cutting Themes - Strengthening Productive Links and Managing Volatility |
| title_fullStr |
Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Cross-Cutting Themes - Strengthening Productive Links and Managing Volatility |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Unleashing Central America’s Growth Potential : Cross-Cutting Themes - Strengthening Productive Links and Managing Volatility |
| title_sort |
unleashing central america’s growth potential : cross-cutting themes - strengthening productive links and managing volatility |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2021 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/454661627621111640/Cross-Cutting-Themes-Unleashing-Central-America-s-Growth-Potential http://hdl.handle.net/10986/36051 |
| _version_ |
1764484325995184128 |