The meeting is taking place in the context of the 35th Regional Seminar on Fiscal Policy, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Speaking at the meeting, ECLAC Executive Secretary Jose Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs highlighted the importance of this forum to discuss the global macroeconomic context, the regional fiscal situation, the investment needs in climate change mitigation and compliance with the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

Salazar-Xirinachs recalled that the region is going through a complex time due to the aftermath of Covid-19, high inflation, low economic growth and the impact of the war in Eastern Europe.

In this scenario, ECLAC predicted that the Gross Domestic Product growth in the region will be only 1.2 percent this year.

The minister of Finance of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Camilo Gonsalves, warned that the contraction of growth will have an impact on the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Gonsalves stressed the importance of creating fiscal space for development to respond to disasters and to speed up the achievement of the SDGs.

He also called to strengthen CELAC’s position as an active body to address health care, environmental and inflationary challenges.

The meeting is being attended by ministers and deputy ministers from 14 countries, including Chile, Cuba, Brazil, Grenada, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Costa Rica, Paraguay, Suriname and Uruguay.

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