Policy Trade-offs for Unprecedented Times: Confronting the Global Crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean

This report focuses on the region's macroeconomic performance in the context of an unusually sharp and rapid deterioration in external conditions. To assess policy options, the report develops a framework to identify the critical trade-offs faced by countries in the region, and evaluates these trade-offs under alternative, plausible, global economic scenarios. It identifies some of the macroeconomic challenges and risks that policymakers face on the road ahead. No individual country suggestions are made. Instead, the report indicates some general policy principles that can hopefully be of use to policymakers, including the international financial institutions engaged in the region. This report was prepared for the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the IDB held in Medellín, Colombia, in March, 2009.