As of April, economic activity in the country registered a 2.7% year-on-year increase, an increase mainly due to the behavior of financial intermediation.
Financial Intermediation, Insurance and Pension Funds grew 6.9% during the fourth month of the year, a result caused by the positive behavior of Financial Intermediation (7.1%), sustained by the increase in interest received on the portfolio of loans and commissions on credits granted, as well as by the use of credit cards, explains the report of the Central Bank of Honduras.
For Moody's, the expansion of the Panamanian economy forecast for the next few years would allow bank credit to grow 8% in 2019 and 9% in 2020.
According to estimates by analysts of the rating agency Moody´s Investors Service is that for the 2019-2014 five-year period is that the Panamanian economy will achieve growth between 5% and 5.5%, behavior that will favor the dynamism of the banking sector.
Next June 16, Guatemalans will have to elect the new government that will assume in January 2020, which will have the challenge of implementing the policies needed to respond immediately to the most urgent demand of the population: the employment generation.
The country's electoral process has been surrounded by uncertainty, since four of the presidential candidates were decided in the courts. Zury Ríos and Thelma Aldana, candidates to occupy the first magistracy, who from the beginning headed the voting intentions, faced multiple legal difficulties that prevented them from participating.
In Costa Rica, the Monthly Economic Activity Index reported a 1.6% year on year increase in April, a variation that is lower than the 1.8% growth reported in March.
Excluding financial services and electricity and water, the rest of the economic activities grew less, or even had negative variations with respect to the previous year, as in the case of the agricultural industry, construction and trade, reported the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR).
According to the international organization the outlook is favorable and the risks to the economy are moderate, and production growth for 2019 is expected to range between 5.25% and 5%.
Economic growth rebounded to a record high of 7% in 2018, with positive momentum maintained in the early part of 2019, the International Monetary Fund reported after concluding its last visit to the Caribbean country.
The effects of the reduction in the Monetary Policy Rate and the lowering to 12% of the minimum legal reserve for banks will take months to be perceived, and without other parallel actions that impact the business sector more quickly and effectively, the economic reactivation of Costa Rica will not be possible in the short term.
According to the latest report of the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR), when comparing the level of economic activity recorded in March this year with the same month of 2018, it is observed that most economic activities slow down their growth, which was reflected in the slowdown of the general indicator. See full report.
In Guatemala, the economic activity reported a 2.8% year-on-year growth rate in the fourth month of the year, mainly because of the behavior of the Wholesale and Retail Commerce and Private Services sector.
After the 2.7% increase in economic activity reported by the Banco de Guatemala in March, in the third month of the year, represented an acceleration since in February 2019 the variation was only 1.9%, the 2.8% in April is a continuation of the positive path of the economy.
After in March 2019 the Confidence in Economic Activity Index in Guatemala dropped 6% in year-on-year terms, in May the increase was 14% regarding the same month in 2018.
The report of the Banco de Guatemala reviews that "... the inflationary rhythm is forecast at 4.50% for May as well as June and 4.48% for July 2019. Regarding December 2019 and 2020, the Panel foresees an inflationary rhythm of 4.49% and 4.55%, in that order. In addition, for a horizon of 12 and 24 months (May 2020 and May 2021) the Panel predicts an inflationary rhythm of 4.42% and of 4.39%, respectively.
In the last ten years, the sector has grown by an average of 2% per year, which for businessmen reflects that the country has not managed to get out of the "low growth trap."
The Salvadoran Association of Industrialists (ASI), faced with the departure of the current government, analyzed the economic and industrial situation in the country in the 2009-2019 period and set out the prospects of industrialists for the new government.
The low dynamism in the commercial activity and in the construction, will influence so that in 2019 the growth of the Panamanian economy is of 4.5% and not 5%, which would result in a rise in the fiscal deficit.
The Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Panama (Cciap) expects that by 2019 the country's economy will grow 4.5%, an estimate that is lower than that of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) which forecasts that economic growth will reach 5%.
The sales indicator declined during the first quarter and economic activity lost dynamism up to February, because of the adverse international environment and growing uncertainty.
The Sales Indicator of the Salvadoran Foundation for Economic and Social Development (FUSADES), reported a negative variation in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2018, going from 16.5 to -7, which is explained by the behavior of the four economic sectors surveyed, reported the Foundation.
After a 3.7% year-on-year increase in economic activity in February, the reported growth in March was only 2.9%.
The Monthly Index of Economic Activity (IMAE) grew by 3.41% for the January-March 2019 period, compared to the same period in 2018. The monthly year on year variation referred up to March 2019 was 2.96%, compared to its similar of the previous year, informed the General Comptroller of the Republic.
Mainly explained by the economic activity reported in the financial and manufacturing sectors, during March the IMAE in Honduras grew 3.2% with respect to the same month in 2017.
In the first quarter of 2019, the Dominican Republic's GDP grew 5.7% over the same period in 2018, a rise that is partly explained by the behavior of construction and financial intermediation.
Authorities from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) reported that the sectors with the greatest growth in the first three months were Construction (12.5%), Energy and Water (11.7%), Financial Intermediation (9.5%), Mining (6.3%), Transport and Storage (6.2%), Public Administration (5.7%), Hotels, Bars and Restaurants (5%), Other Service Activities (5.2%), among others.
According to the IMF, the Central American country has been the most dynamic economy in Latin America in the last three decades, reaching one of the highest per capita incomes in the region.
A report published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and signed by Alejandro Santos, Panama's mission chief, and Metodij Hadzi-Vaskov, chief economist in the Western Hemisphere Department, explains that the country's growth is important, since the economy has grown at around 6% per year for a quarter of a century, well above other countries with traditionally strong growth such as Chile, the Dominican Republic and Peru, as well as twice the growth rate of Latin America as a whole.
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