Caribbean Today News

After Surviving the Pandemic, Companies in Latin America, Caribbean Need Help – Report

A new study by the Center for Global Development and the Inter-American Development Bank finds that many companies in Latin America and the Caribbean survived the pandemic by slashing investment, but that this decline now threatens to constrain the region’s economic recovery.

To reverse the situation and prevent it from leading to a type of “economic long COVID,” where a weak private sector fails to create jobs and stimulate economic growth, governments in the region should actively pursue a series of policies to help companies boost investment and hire new employees.

These are among the key findings of the new report, which examined the balance sheets from a large number of companies across the region and discovered that, despite an economic recovery in 2020 and 2021, capital levels at companies are still 20% lower than they were before the pandemic began.

“While it is good news that relatively few larger firms failed, the drop in their productive capital implies significant scarring and threatens the region’s economic growth,” said Andrew Powell.

“Rebuilding capital is essential for firms after the pandemic. But with global and local interest rates rising and major uncertainties in international capital markets, it’s clear that firms will find it a challenge to obtain the necessary financing for investment,” said Liliana Rojas-Suarez

The study was written as the result of discussions in an expert group of top economists and lawyers drawn from the region and led by Andrew Powell, Principal Advisor of the Research Department at the IDB and Liliana Rojas-Suarez, director of the Latin America Initiative and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development.

The study sampled balance sheet data from larger businesses across the region and found that investment fell sharply while debt levels remain high, especially in sectors hit the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the demand for formal workers diminished and informal employment rose steeply during the recovery.

The report analyzes companies across a large swathe of the region’s economy. Although revenues at companies in sectors like logging, mining, and other extractive industries have mostly recovered, in many sectors—including construction, retail, and most white-collar industries—revenues remain significantly depressed.

Small firms, which often have limited access to credit, were punished the most severely by the crisis. The report finds smaller companies still face more financial challenges and are more likely to fall behind on debt payments, with a significant portion shutting down.

While overall economic growth has recovered significantly in many countries across the region, the stalled recovery for companies in key sectors has had knock-on effects for workers, especially for women and younger people. The number of workers in informal businesses has increased from its already-very-high pre-pandemic levels. Higher informality, the researchers say, will further constrain the region’s productivity and growth, largely because informal companies tend to be much less productive.

The joint CGD-IDB report recommends several ways governments could kickstart investment and economic recovery for the region’s businesses:

About the Center for Global Development

CGD works to reduce global poverty and improve lives through innovative economic research that drives better policy and practice by the world’s top decision makers. You can read more about CGD at: https://www.cgdev.org/

About the Inter-American Development Bank

The Inter-American Development Bank is devoted to improving lives. Established in 1959, the IDB is a leading source of long-term financing for economic, social, and institutional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. The IDB also conducts cutting-edge research and provides policy advice, technical assistance, and training to public and private sector clients throughout the region. You can read more about the IDB at: https://www.iadb.org