FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

January 25, 2005
JS-2208

Economic Policies in the Western Hemisphere:
Recent Accomplishments and Future Challenges
John B. Taylor
Under Secretary of Treasury for International Affairs
Remarks at a Luncheon for the
Ambassadors of the Latin American Group
Brazilian Embassy
Washington, D.C.
January 25, 2005

Thank you very much, Ambassador Abdenur, for inviting me to join you and your ambassadorial colleagues today.  It is an honor to be here and to have the opportunity to speak before members of the diplomatic corps of the Latin American region.  I have enjoyed working with many of you while I have served as Under Secretary at the U.S. Treasury.  And I appreciate the warm hospitality I have received on visits to many of your countries during the last four years.  

I would like to take this opportunity to talk to you about the remarkable economic accomplishments we have seen in many countries in the region over the past several years.  I have heard some critics say that the United States has been too busy elsewhere to work with our neighbors in the region.  I think the record and the results say otherwise.  By working together in many different fora and by encouraging and implementing good economic policies, we have accomplished the best economic performance in the hemisphere in a quarter century.  

To be sure, there are still challenges.  Simply put, we need to work together to make the current economic recovery long-lasting, broader, and stronger so that people throughout the region can see significant increases in income and reductions in poverty.  The Bush Administration in its second term plans to continue to work closely with the region to advance an ambitious agenda and meet these challenges.

Recent Accomplishments

The economic news from the region has been exceptional, exceeding even the most optimistic forecasts.  Forecasters are now estimating that economic growth in Latin America was 5.8 percent in 2004, a significant acceleration from 1.9 percent in 2003 and the fastest growth rate since 1980.  Private forecasters expect regional growth to be 4 percent in 2005, so the expansion is expected to continue.

There have also been dramatic improvements in economic stability.  There are no countries in the region that are in a recession or financial crisis.  Capital flows to Latin America are increasing.  Market analysts estimate that governments in the region have already met about half of their financing needs for the entire year.  The average risk spread for the region is near its lowest levels in seven years, even as the U.S. Federal Reserve has increased interest rates over the past several months.  Mexico just placed a bond issue with its lowest-ever spread over U.S. Treasuries for the 10-year maturity.

I contrast this with the situation when I entered my current job four years ago, when I remember being briefed on the latest $14 billion IMF rescue package for Argentina approved in January 2001, hearing from Mexico's economic leadership about the sinking economy, and getting calls from my friends in Brazil about the fragile situation there.

It is also instructive to contrast the current situation with the wave of financial crises and contagion in the 1990s.  Ten years ago Mexico plunged into crisis when the government nearly defaulted on its debt and was forced float the peso.  Contrast this situation with today, where the Mexican economy is one of the most stable in emerging markets, enjoying an investment grade rating and some of the lowest risks spreads over U.S. Treasuries in emerging markets.  There is also no sign or talk of financial market contagion anymore.  The lack of contagion following Argentina's default in 2001--compared to the contagion seen after the Asian and Russian crises in 1997-8--exemplifies how far we have come. 

What have been the causes of this improved growth and stability?  Good economic policies, both in the region and the United States.  The strong economic recovery in the United States, based on timely changes in monetary and fiscal policy such as President Bush's tax cuts in 2001 and 2003, have been a big factor in spurring Latin America's recovery through the close linkages we have through trade.

Within the region, governments have taken very significant steps during the last few years to improve fiscal policies aimed at reducing debt levels.  Monetary policies have also improved, supported by a move to more flexible exchange rates and inflation-targeting regimes.  Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru all have well-established monetary policies based on inflation-targeting.  Better monetary policies in Brazil and Argentina, for example, prevented the large depreciations in 2002 from translating into uncontrolled inflationary spirals.  The United States has supported good policies in the region by strongly supporting IMF, World Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank assistance to countries that were pursuing good economic policies.

These good economic policies set the stage for the robust recovery in economic growth that we have observed in Latin America.  They also underlie the improvements in economic stability in financial markets, as investors have taken note of better policies.  Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay--among others--received ratings upgrades from the credit rating agencies during the last two years.

Future Challenges

Despite these accomplishments, this is no time to be complacent.  I see the current situation as a moment of historic opportunity for the region and emerging markets in general to put themselves on a robust growth path and act as stabilizing force in the world economy rather than being vulnerable to developments in the rest of the world.  Emerging markets are accounting for an increasingly large share of global growth, inflation, and financing and as a consequence are playing an increasingly important role in determining their patterns.

Despite the political challenges in the region, I think there is the strong political leadership needed to take up this challenge.  Just to name a few, we have been particularly impressed by what President Lula and Finance Minister Palocci have accomplished in Brazil, how President Gutierrez and Finance Minister Yepez in Ecuador have maintained disciplined fiscal policies in an unsettled political environment, how President Uribe in Colombia has simultaneously tackled economic reform and improved security, and how President Frutos has moved forward a broad-based reform agenda in Paraguay.

This is the time to be ambitious on economic policy and put in place what is needed for sustained growth by pursuing reforms aimed at, first, locking-in improvements in macroeconomic policy and, second, creating the microeconomic environment for higher productivity growth.

On the first of these, a lot of progress was made in 2004 in strengthening fiscal balances and lowering debt levels.  However, debt levels in the region at 55 percent of GDP are still too high and a source of financial vulnerability.  Further fiscal efforts will be needed to bring them down and to give the region greater financial flexibility as it encounters shocks in the future.

Part of this effort will involve advancing what we call structural fiscal reforms in order to ensure continued strong fiscal performance and lock-in the improvements we have seen over the past couple of years.  Key among these include reforms to strengthen tax administration and broaden the tax base, pension reform to ensure the sustainability and solvency of pension systems, and fiscal responsibility regimes to institutionalize fiscal discipline at the provincial and regional levels.  On the monetary side, additional work can be undertaken to bolster the operational and institutional underpinnings of inflation-targeting regimes.  Chief among these is legislation to increase central bank autonomy and independence; Mexico, Chile, Peru, and Colombia have independent central banks.

The second challenge is to raise the region's growth rate so that we see the nearly 6% growth in 2004 not only in one year but every year.  Growth of 4% as expected this year is simply not high enough to generate the large, sustained reductions in poverty that we all want to see.  I think the region can do better. 

The key to achieving higher per capita income growth is boosting productivity growth.  Higher productivity growth translates into higher wages, and higher wages reduce poverty.  Productivity growth in Latin America has been unacceptably low compared to other regions of the world.  According to the IDB's "The Business of Growth" study, productivity growth was 0.7 percent per year in the region as a whole in the 1990s after being negative in the 1980s.  The improvement is attributable to some significant economic reforms undertaken in the early 1990s.  However, Latin America's performance compares poorly to that of other countries.  During the 1990s, productivity growth was 1.7 percent in the developed countries and 2.7 percent in the East Asian countries.  That 1 percent or 2 percent productivity difference could have made a huge difference in living standards in the region.  Productivity growth in Latin America can and should be higher than 2 percent--or more than triple what it was in the 1990s.

The "Business of Growth" study also discusses the range of policy issues that need to be addressed in order to achieve higher rates of productivity growth.  Improvements to the business climate, or microeconomic reforms as we call them, are central for creating the incentives to innovate and invest that are essential for boosting productivity.  These are reforms that include trade liberalization, business deregulation, labor market reform, financial market reform, strengthening property rights, and fighting corruption.  They also include investment in physical infrastructure and human capital or skills development.

The Bush Administration is firmly committed to working with countries in the region--both through our bilateral relationships and in multilateral fora--to help achieve higher rates of productivity growth and rising living standards.

We remain committed to further regional integration through advancing our ambitious trade agenda.  We have concluded or are in the process of concluding a raft of FTA agreements throughout the region.  These include the U.S.-Chile FTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), as well as our ongoing negotiations with Panama and the Andean region.  All told, these FTAs will cover 90 percent of U.S. trade with Latin America. 

The recent economic recovery in Latin America shows just how important trade is for economic growth.  Exports have been a key driver of this growth throughout the region, rising an estimated 22 percent last year, up from 10 percent in 2003.  More impressively, this is not just a commodity price phenomenon, with exports volumes rising an estimated 11 percent last year.  Strong export performance has led to the second year in a row that Latin America has posted a current account surplus--at an estimated 1 percent of GDP in 2004, up from 0.5 percent of GDP in 2003 when the region ran its first current account surplus in 35 years. 

We are committed to working with the countries of the region to seize the opportunity of the November 2005 Summit of the Americas to advance concrete initiatives for boosting economic growth and creating jobs.  These initiatives aim to support the microeconomic conditions needed to boost productivity growth.  At the Special Summit of the Americas held last January in Monterrey, Mexico, our leaders made important commitments to halve the cost of remittances, triple credit to small businesses catalyzed by IDB programs, and halve the time and cost of starting a new business.  

At the upcoming Summit this November in Argentina, we are thinking of similar types of initiatives.  I believe infrastructure will be an important focus of the Summit and we have a number of ideas on how we can promote more investment in infrastructure in an efficient and sustainable manner.  I also think mortgage market development is an important potential initiative as it helps broaden capital markets and expands the opportunity of home and property ownership to the poor.  The Summit also provides a chance for the region's leaders to support continued efforts by the multilateral development banks to show measurable results in their activities by increasing discipline over budget and project lending programs to achieve quantifiable results with strong controls over where the money goes.  I look forward to working with the people in this room over the next few months to make the upcoming Summit a success.

Our bilateral dialogues continue to be a critical resource for sharing experiences and policy views about how to boost productivity growth.  To take a couple of examples, we have made important progress in reducing the cost of sending remittances from the United States to Mexico in part through the work of the U.S.-Mexico Partnership for Prosperity launched in 2001.  We have had valuable policy exchanges in the U.S.-Brazil Group for Growth that have helped refine approaches to reforms in areas like small business regulation.

A major way in which we are working with countries to meet the challenge of increasing productivity growth is through the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA).  The MCA is an important bilateral initiative that the Bush Administration has developed to help the poorest countries in the region and around the world--countries that are putting in place the policies that encourage innovation and investment.  I am particularly pleased to see that three countries in the region, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Honduras, have qualified for MCA assistance this year.  It is also important to note that we are seeing countries develop very specific and well targeted programs to use their MCA assistance that have a greater chance of producing real, measurable results.  Focusing on a few areas where a meaningful difference can be made, rather than undertaking a broad diffuse effort is much more likely to yield positive results.

Conclusion

In conclusion, let me say that I am pleased to have had the opportunity to work with you over the past few years--years in which we can be proud of a number of significant achievements.  I look forward to carrying forward this work in our joint efforts to create better lives for all the peoples of our hemisphere.