Influenced by the performance of wholesale and retail trade, economic activity in Guatemala reported an inter-annual increase of 3.2% in August.
In September, performance was influenced by the positive result mainly experienced by the following economic activities: Wholesale and retail trade; Manufacturing industries; Private services; Financial intermediation, insurance and auxiliary activities; and Transportation, storage and communications.
New World Bank projections estimate that because of Nicaragua's political crisis, the country's GDP will fall 4% this year and 1% in 2019.
According to the expectations of the international organization, Nicaragua will be the only economy that will decrease in Central America, because of the political and social crisis in which the country is involved since last April, it is expected that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will decrease 3.8% in 2018 compared to 2017.
Family remittances reached $3.509 million during the first nine months of the year, 9% more than the same period last year.
According to the figures from the Central Bank of Honduras, the country received family remittances for $295 million in the ninth month of the year, and from January to September it has received a monthly average of $389 million.
"Despite temporarily slowing in 2018, the panamanian economy is poised for a rebound in the near term and will remain among the most dynamic in Latin America."
What the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said about the slowdown suffered by Panama's economy is not a surprise, considering what the indicators have been showing over the past few months. One of the best examples is the construction sector, which between January and August reported a reduction of 40% compared to the same period in 2017. Sales of new vehicles, a good thermometer of consumption of Panamanians, have not managed to rebound from last year, while foreign direct investment, which in previous years did not stop growing, reported a decline of 13% in the first six months.
During the first nine months of the year, income from family remittances reached $6,824 million, 12% higher than the amount reported for the same period in 2017.
The most recent figures from the Bank of Guatemala show that in September 2018 the country received remittances of $746 million, which is 11% higher than the $672 million reported for the same month in 2017.
Explained mainly by the private consumption expansion, the Gross Domestic Product reported a year-on-year increase of 3% in the first half of the year.
Regarding growth in the second quarter of the year, the Central Reserve Bank (BCR) reported that the production process informed between April and June this year confirms the greatest boom in economic activity announced during the first quarter, so it increased by one-tenth the growth projection for 2018, with an expected rate of 2.6%.
As a result of an increase in investment in new constructions and in the final consumption of households, GDP increased 3.3% year-on-year in the second quarter of the year.
During the second quarter of 2018, the economic activity volume, measured with the trend of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) cycle, increased at an annualized rate of 3.6%, mainly as a result of an increase in investment in new buildings and final consumption of households. In the year-on-year comparison, production registered a growth of 3.3%, according to the Central Bank of Costa Rica.
Arguing that the behavior of the main indicators of the local economy are consistent with those expected, Banco de Guatemala has decided to maintain the monetary policy rate at 2.75%.
Due to an increase in production and sales, in August of this year the Monthly Index of Manufacturing Activity registered an increase of 15% with respect to the same month in 2017.
The Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD) reported that the Monthly Index of Manufacturing Activity (IMAM) increased slightly from 58.4 in July to 61.5 in August, remaining for the seventh consecutive month over the barrier of 50.0 and following the trend shown in previous years for this period.
In the first eight months of the year, the country received $976 million in the form of remittances sent from abroad, registering an increase of 7.6% compared to the same period in 2017.
The Central Bank of Nicaragua reported that remittances totaled $126.7 million in August (US $120.4 million in August 2017), which represents an interannual variation of 5.2 percent.
Since the beginning of the year Banco de Guatemala has intervened in the foreign exchange market buying foreign currency in order to curb appreciation of the local currency against the dollar, but in recent weeks it has been selling currencies in order to minimize depreciation.
In recent weeks the exchange rate of the Quetzal against the US dollar has been trending upwards, which has forced the Bank of Guatemala (Banguat) to sell foreign currency in the foreign exchange market.So far this year, up until September 24, it has had to intervene selling $402 million worth of foreign currency.
Influenced in part by the performance of the transportation and services sectors, economic activity in Guatemala reported a year-on-year growth of 3.4% in July.
The behavior in the seventh month of the year was influenced by growth shown by the following economic activities: Transportation, storage and communications, Wholesale and retail trade, Private services and the Manufacturing industries.
The deterioration of public finances and the inability of the Alvarado administration to end the blockades set up by trade unionists are again drawing the attention of rating agencies and the international market, who foresee a complicated economic future for Costa Rica.
According to the risk rating agency Moody's, the demonstrations by public sector unions are increasingly complicating the path towards a much-needed reform of public finances, which would take its first steps with the approval of the bill that is being discussed in the Legislative Assembly.
After Panama reported a 17% year-on-year decline in foreign investment flows in the first quarter, the cumulative figure for the first six months recorded a 13% decrease.
The latest report by the General Comptroller of the Republic, indicates that the annual fall in the flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) reported from January to June was 13.2%, down from $2.674 billion in 2017 to $2.321 billion in 2018.
Following the reductions in the index of economic activity that were reported in May and June, in July the indicator continued to fall, reporting a 4% drop compared to the same month in 2017.
The IMAE registered a decrease of 4.2% compared to July 2017, with an average annual growth of 0.7 percent and an accumulated variation of -1.7 percent.The underlying variation, measured with the trend cycle series, registered a year-on-year decrease of 4.6 percent.The seasonally adjusted IMAE series grew by 7.7% compared to June 2018, the Central Bank of Nicaragua reported.
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