Carnival time again in Latin America?

摘要

Much of Latin America is poised for a good year ahead. But a familiar vulnerability hangs over the region. The economies of Latin America are on the mend. That was the message from bankers and finance officials this week at the annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), held this year in New Orleans. Yet despite the spring sunshine, and forecasts that Latin America will see economic growth of up to 4% this year, the mood was curiously flat. Perhaps it was the numbing sterility of the cavernous concrete shed that is the New Orleans convention centre, or the absence of any pulse-quickening fir nancial crisis in the region. Or perhaps it was simply the knowledge that for Latin America any talk of boom is so often merely a prelude to sickening bust.