Fiscal panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2022: fiscal policy challenges for sustainable and inclusive development

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Corporate Author:

United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean

Publisher:

UN

The region is facing a complex economic situation, marked by slowing growth, rising inflation, interest rate hikes and volatility in international markets. This context puts pressure on public finances, compounded by increasing demands for social welfare, investment and environmental sustainability, which pose fiscal policy challenges. The Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2022 proposes a fiscal policy design that would help to drive sustainable development, by strengthening tax collection and making tax structures more progressive, and giving a strategic orientation to public spending to turn it into an instrument of development. The report analyses the fiscal trends observed in 2021, which included an upturn in tax receipts and a slowdown in public spending that resulted in smaller fiscal deficits. It also examines fiscal rules and the mechanisms used to ease them during the pandemic, proposing a rethink of these rules aimed at pro-growth fiscal policy. Lastly, it studies the fiscal frameworks applied to hydrocarbon production and mining with a view to maximizing their contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development