SANTIAGO, Chile, CMC – The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) on employment in the region had resulted in a decline in the population’s rate of participation in economic activity.

In its 2021 Statistical Yearbook, ECLAC reported that 57.8 per cent of the region’s population had been economically impacted by the pandemic in 2020 as against 62.5 per cent in 2019.

It also said there was a higher open unemployment rate, increasing from 8.1 per cent in 2019 to 10.5 per cent in 2020.

“As a result, the population without their own income increased notably in the region, especially among people from 15 to 24 years of age,” ECLAC said, pointing also to a “positive projection for a 6.3 per cent recovery in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021 versus the -6.8 per cent drop recorded at a regional level in 2020 due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

It said these results are reflected in the average GDP per inhabitant, which amounted to US$8,307 in 2020 and US$8,747 dollars in 2021, marking a growth rate of 5.3 percent.

ECLAC stated foreign direct investment (FDI) in the region plunged by 20.4 per cent in 2020, compared with 2019, with Latin America experiencing a 20.7 per cent decline and the Caribbean down by 10 per cent.

As a percentage of GDP, FDI represented 2.1 per cent in the same period, ECLAC said, adding that in 2020, intraregional exports represented 13 per cent of all shipments abroad.

With regard to imports, ECLAC said intra-regional purchases accounted for a 13.9 per cent share of the total and that the intra-regional exports fell eight per cent versus 2019, while the decline in intra-regional imports for the same period was 4.5 per cent.

With regard to the terms of trade, ECLAC said there was a slight increase of 0.2 per cent for Latin America in 2020, as compared with 2019.

In 2021, ECLAC said consumer prices rose 12.6 per cent in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the biggest contribution came from the prices for food and beverage products, which rose by 12.5 per cent.

ECLAC in its 2021 Statistical Yearbook Year also examined several other areas of development in the region, including physical conditions; land cover; ecosystems; biodiversity; environmental quality; land; energy, water and biological resources; emissions; disasters; human settlements; and environmental regulation and governance.

“It can be seen that since 1990, Latin America and the Caribbean has improved its energy efficiency, with a 26 per cent reduction since that year in the energy intensity of GDP as a function of the primary energy supply, and a 13 per cent decline in final energy consumption,” ECLAC said.

The report also indicated that, since 1990, the region has increased its exports of renewable and non-renewable natural resources by 168 per cent, although the share of these primary exports vis-à-vis total exports has declined by 31 per cent.

“This means there is greater pressure on natural resources, which causes a negative impact on the environment,” ECLAC said.