ECLAC: Venezuelan economy to contract by 9.7 percent in 2016

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) updated its projections on 14 December 2016 and predicted that Venezuela will close 2016 with a 9.7 percent contraction and experience a GDP loss of 4.7 percent in 2017. Other nations with economic contractions in 2016 include Suriname at -10.4 percent, Trinidad and Tobago at -4.5 percent, Brazil at -3.6 percent, and Argentina and Ecuador at -2 percent (El Universal). The ECLAC estimated a region-wide recession of 1.1 percent in 2016, followed by a growth of 1.3 percent in 2017 (Tal Cual).