(AP) — The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean said Wednesday the region’s per-capita gross domestic product is likely to drop by 9.9 per cent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That would take the region back to GDP levels of 2010, something the UN commission called “a lost decade.”
Unemployment rates in the region will probably average 13.5 per cent by the end of the year, up from 8.1 per cent in 2019. The number of unemployed people in the region is likely to rise from 26.1 million at the end of 2019, to 44.1 million by the end of 2020.
The value of the region’s exports are expected to fall by 23 per cent compared to the year before.
