LATIN America and the Caribbean (LAC) is expected to grow by 2.2 per cent this year, according to a UN body.

The latest forecast by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) was 0.5 percentage points less than growth projections made four months ago.

Weak foreign demand for regional goods and services and insufficient investments in the LAC were the key reasons cited for the less optimistic forecast.

Last year, the region grew by 2.5 per cent.

The report, which was published last week, indicated that the economic slowdown observed in the last quarter of 2013 persisted during the early months of 2014.

Less dynamic domestic demand for goods and services and limited room for policy implementation are also expected to impede economic growth.

Nevertheless, ECLAC signalled that a gradual improvement in some of the world’s major economies should positively impact on the region’s growth trends towards the end of this year.

Notably, the recovery of the United Kingdom and several economies in the euro zone will help Caribbean economies as tourist arrivals from those markets increase.

As a result, the Caribbean is projected to grow by an average of two per cent, which is higher than the 1.2 per cent registered in 2013.

For Jamaica, ECLAC is forecasting 1.2 per cent growth, which is higher than the 0.2 per cent growth that the country experienced in 2013.