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Published: February 16, 2024 | Updated: May 17, 2024
Read time: 3 minutes
Around the world, businesses and consumers will make careful decisions about how to spend and invest in 2024, according to the Mastercard Economic Institute’s Economic Outlook 2024 report.
On the one hand, resources will be carefully prioritized as interest rates, wages and prices remain high compared to pre-pandemic levels. However, consumers will remain empowered with moderating inflation, steady real economic growth and varied regional dynamics.
Key takeaways for Latin America in 2024:
Headwinds & tailwinds to watch
2024 headwinds:
- Income-sensitive sectors are likely to lag as households control their expenses.
- Economic slowdown in China and the US could threaten Latin America's economic performance, impacting Southern Cone countries the hardest due to decreased demand for agricultural products and metals.
- An economic slowdown in the US could impact Central America and the Caribbean with weaker exports and lower remittances.
- El Niño, an oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon, could drive up food inflation. Droughts in particular regions and intense storms in others may affect agricultural production and transport.
2024 tailwinds:
- The policy rate cut cycle could provide relief to households throughout the region, whose debt service has climbed with high rates.
- The continued easing of monetary policy will help sustain consumer spend in interest-sensitive sectors.
- Labor reports will remain strong in the economies that have outperformed and turn the corner in the region’s underperforming economies, with real wages expected to show modest and consistent growth.
Country breakdown
Read the full Economic outlook 2024 report and learn more about the Mastercard Economics Institute.
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