Despite considerable progress made by Latin America's biggest economies in putting their finances in order, numerous challenges remain.  Public spending needs to incorporate more flexibility, ageing populations and social demands threaten future pressures on expenditure, and social and...

Latin America is volatile - about two to three times as volatile as the industrial economies. It is more volatile than any region other than Africa and the Middle East. Latin America's access to international financial markets is sporadic, and often disappears just when it would be most valuable.