Fintech in Latin America and the Caribbean: Stocktaking

In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), financial technology has been growing rapidly and is on the agenda of many policy makers. Fintech provides opportunities to deepen financial development, competition, innovation, and inclusion in the region but also creates new and only partially understood risks to consumers and the financial system. This paper documents the evolution of fintech in LAC. In particular, the paper focuses on financial development, fintech landscape for domestic and cross border payments and alternative financing, cybersecurity, financial integrity and stability risks, regulatory responses, and considerations for central bank digital currencies.

Fintech in Latin America and the Caribbean: Stocktaking

Hitting Stride: The 2nd Americas Alternative Finance Industry Report

The burden of hematological malignancies in Latin America and the Caribbean: A 30-year global burden of disease analysis

Since the 1990s, financial systems around the world, and especially those in developing countries, have gained in soundness, depth, and diversity, prompted in part by a series of financial sector and macroeconomic reforms aimed at fostering a market-driven economy in which finance plays a central role. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has been one of the regions at the forefront of these changes, and it serves as a good laboratory for seeing where the challenges in financial development lie. The progress in financial development in LAC no doubt reflects governments' substantial efforts to provide an enabling environment. This includes lower macroeconomic volatility, more independent and better anchored currencies, increased financial liberalization, lower currency mismatches and foreign debt exposures, enhanced effectiveness of regulation and supervision, and notable improvements in the underlying market infrastructure. This book studies the recent history of financial sector development and reforms in the LAC region and compares it to other developing and developed countries to shed light on the key obstacles to financial development, both past and future. This study is particularly timely in the wake of the global financial crisis that began in 2008, as assumptions about the underpinnings of efficient and well-functioning markets undergo close scrutiny. This book builds on and complements several overview studies on financial development both in LAC and in the developing world more broadly that have been published in the past decade, including those by the World Bank. It covers additional aspects of the financial development process and focuses on the broader set of LAC countries. The chapters in this book cover different issues related to financial development in LAC. Chapters one through five attempt to ascertain where the region's financial development lies, analyzing in detail some of the reasons and policy implications underlying its gaps in banking depth and equity liquidity, as well as the links between financial development and financial globalization. Chapters six and seven consider two themes that are central to the region's financial development: long-term finance and the role of the state in risk bearing. Chapters eight through eleven deal with regulation and supervision, first taking stock of the progress in the region and then analyzing the challenges LAC faces on three main facets of systemic oversight: macro prudential policy, micro systemic regulation, and systemic supervision.

In the last decade, the socioeconomic relationship between Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) and the People´s Republic of China has increased massively. How has this new qualitative relationship between LAC and China affected inequality in LAC? This paper highlights the degrees of concentration of trade since the 1990s until 2011 and its technological content. Future research will have to deepen this relationship at the national, regional and even firm-level. Based on a brief critical review of the relationship between trade and equality/inequality, the document analyzes several of the outstanding features of the booming trade relationship between LAC and China. It concludes, among other issues, that both academics and policy makers have to overcome the bias against the agricultural sector and natural resources based on the concepts of global commodity chains, systemic competitiveness and territorial endogeneity. In addition, one of the most striking features of the new LAC-China trade is its increasing concentration, both compared with historical levels of LAC-China trade, as well as with the rest of the world, a development that will affect inequality in LAC substantially. It is not “old wine in new bottles”, but rather a new socioeconomic relationship with dynamic and profound impacts in LAC that will have to be considered in more detail by scholars and policy makers in the future.

After a two-year recession, something last experienced over three decades ago, the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region is growing again. The challenge now is to accelerate and sustain growth to continue making progress on the social front as in the first decade and a half of the new century: between 2000 and 2014 the region managed to reduce poverty (US$4 a day poverty line) from 42.9 percent to 23.3 percent, cutting the number of poor people by 80 million at a time when the Latin American population increased by 100 million. A renewed emphasis on productivity comes up during any discussion of LAC’s growth agenda. After all, labor productivity in the region has stalled at around 30 percent of that of the U.S. Moreover, improvements on the productivity front would result not only in faster growth but also, as basic economic theory suggests, in better salaries for the workforce, therefore further contributing to poverty reduction and shared prosperity. But why is there such a gap in LAC’s productivity with respect to the developed countries? One factor is the large infrastructure investment and service gaps. Infrastructure investments can be a powerful engine for reviving and sustaining growth. A recent regional study on the determinants of growth in LAC indicates that infrastructure has been the main structural driver of growth in the region. Yet, LAC governments are well aware that public resources are not enough to satisfy infrastructure needs, especially in the context of ongoing fiscal adjustments across the region and the enormous need for infrastructure investment: an estimated $180 billion per year investment gap. And LAC governments are also aware that the private sector can play a central role to finance the existing gap. Not surprisingly then, LAC has made considerable strides in attracting private sector investments in infrastructure: the region has the largest stock of active Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) investments and the largest pipeline of infrastructure projects by volume globally, reflecting the central role of the private sector in the regional development agenda. Going forward, LAC countries will benefit from an improved environment for private investments, as well as for further developing a robust pipeline of bankable projects. This report showcases the different ways the World Bank Group has been part of these efforts to support the mobilization of private financing for infrastructure in the region, following what authors call the Cascade approach. These encompass everything from policy and regulatory advice to structuring support, guarantees schemes and financing. Country-specific examples presented in this report illustrate how private financing mobilization in LAC has been supported by the WBG. While not exhaustive, these examples are representative of the different strategies and instruments used by governments at the central and subnational levels to help leverage private sector participation in infrastructure. The WBG stands ready to continue to assist the region in that endeavor with financial support, as well as knowledge and convening services.

Cassava, maize, and rice are the main staple foods of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, and these crops are highly susceptible to fungal contamination and the metabolites of fungi, including aflatoxins. The presence of aflatoxins in foods is a serious risk to human health, causing acute and chronic effects. They are produced at all production, storage, and marketing stages of crops and their by-products when conditions for handling and storage are not well managed. This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of aflatoxins in cassava, maize, and rice in the Latin America and the Caribbean region and mitigation strategies. It also outlines the potential impact on food security in the region. The findings showed that aflatoxins are prevalent across Latin America and the Caribbean countries. Despite the application of mitigation strategies, there are still concerns about risks to human health due to the high consumption of staple foods. Hence, governmental and institutional interventions are essential to developing sustainable strategies that prevent food contamination and protect public health in the region.

In 2014, during a visit to Havana after travelling to Brazil for the Sixth BRICS summit, Chinese president Xi Jinping visited Havana and gave Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro seeds of the moringa plant as a new symbol of bilateral friendship. Not long before the meeting, the two countries had signed a cooperation agreement on the research and cultivation of moringa, named as the Plant of the Year 2008 by the National Institute of Health in the U.S. for its high nutritional value. Chinese scientists consider the plant a promising source of proteins, vitamins, and minerals nutrition for both farm animals and humans. In order to advance cooperation in moringa, the Cuban and Chinese governments set up two complementary research centres – the Moringa Science & Technology Cooperation Center at the Tropical Crop Research Institute of Yunnan in China and the Institute of Pasture and Forage of the Ministry of Agriculture of Cuba – to lead and implement collaborative projects (CMoA, 2014). The moringa project is a far cry from the usual imaginary of China-LACagricultural trade and investment, which has focused heavily on soybeans. Hence it hints not only at an intensification of China’s role in the agricultural sector in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), but also a gradual diversification of these ties. This chapter asks why agricultural cooperation and food trade relations between China and LAC have evolved since the turn of the millennium, and analyses the implications of this trend for LAC. As LAC becomes an increasingly important component of China’s globalized food strategy, the dual processes of intensification and diversification pose new social and environmental challenges within LAC. China’s agricultural ‘Go Out’ strategy, as manifested in expanding invest-ments in LAC, is in line with the government’s changing policy mentality on national food security caused by the Chinese population’s growing demand and shifting consumption patterns accompanying urbanization and the expansion of the middle classes. Consequently, the Chinese government has played a proactive role in opening up new channels and establishing mechanisms to facilitate and diversify investments. Indeed, in May 2015,during a four-country tour of Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile), Chinese premier Li Keqiang announced China’s plan to invest tens of billions in the region’s agriculture, among other sectors (Reuters Beijing, 2015). At the same time, Chinese companies would also invest in LAC infrastructure to ensure the delivery of export-bound grains and other agricultural products to China. Against this backdrop, LAC’s importance as a producer and net exporter ofagricultural commodities – the region’s agricultural heterogeneity notwithstanding – has made it an increasingly vital frontier for China’s agricultural ‘Go Out’ policy. Although LAC itself faces growing contradictions due to poor distribution channels, rich yet poorly utilized natural endowments, and increasing environmental and climate change challenges, its agricultural production is expected to further expand in coming years, making the region essential to fulfil China’s goal of improving supply of grains and other agricultural products. For LAC, these investments look promising insofar as they can continue tofuel trade, generate prosperity and improve the region’s sorely lacking infrastructure. However, two key challenges lie ahead. First, this model of engagement reinforces pre-existing patterns of investment in export-oriented agricultural production and its associated social grievances and environmental pressures. To mitigate social and environmental costs, LAC stakeholders must better leverage their role in China’s food security and overseas investment. Second, owing to the limited impact of the proposed infrastructure – aimed at ensuring transport of commodities from inland regions to seaports – on regional integration, LAC stakeholders must negotiate deals with China with regional priorities in mind, rather than individual bilateral initiatives. However, these responses must take into account not only the heterogeneity of the region itself, but also the widely varying forms of China’s involvement in LAC agriculture. The chapter is structured as follows. The first part explains Chinese inves-tors growing interest in LAC agriculture, as well as the growing importance of LAC to China’s food security policy. The second part shows the changing patterns of Chinese investments in LAC agriculture over time, and the kinds of reaction on the part of LAC stakeholders. The last part discusses the key implications that the dual movement of intensification and diversification of China-LAC agricultural ties has for the region.

Hookworm infection, caused by the soil-transmitted helminths Ancylostoma duodenale and Necator americanus, is a highly prevalent helminthic infection in the Latin America and the Caribbean region. The relevant disease burden, mainly in children and during pregnancy, is often associated with poor conditions of living and social inequities. For this review, all publications related to hookworm infection in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region were surveyed using PubMed, Google Scholar, Global Atlas of Helminth Infections (GAHI) and local sources. The broad area, latitude and altitude differences in the LAC territory cause major difficulties in the accessibility of hookworm disease burden and true prevalence. However, hookworm infection has been described in several countries from the Central through South America. Historically, hookworm surveys and treatment have been performed in the LAC region. Here, we describe the history and origin of hookworm infection, different aspects of clinical manifestations, distribution and disease burden of infection. Moreover, approaches for control and elimination of hookworm infection are discussed.KeywordsHookworm infection Necator americanus Ancylostoma duodenale Latin AmericaCaribbean

América Latina y el Caribe (ALC) es una región en rápido crecimiento con casi 600 millones de habitantes compuesta por México, América Central y del Sur y las islas del Caribe. Las Américas fueron habitadas por primera vez por personas que cruzaron el Puente de la Tierra de Bering desde el noreste de Asia hacia Alaska hace más de 10,000 años. Los nativos americanos descienden de al menos tres corrientes de flujo genético asiático. Los europeos llegaron después de 1492 siguiendo los viajes de Cristóbal Colón. Los africanos fueron capturados y llevados a América por el comercio transatlántico de esclavos del siglo XVI al XIX. Por lo tanto, la población de ALC comprende una variedad de ancestros, grupos étnicos y razas, lo que hace de la región una de las más diversas del mundo. La composición específica varía de un país a otro: muchos tienen un predominio de la población europea-nativa americana o mestiza; en otros, los nativos americanos son mayoría; algunos están dominados por habitantes de ascendencia europea; La población de algunos países es principalmente mulata. En menor medida, también se identifican regularmente negros, asiáticos y zambo (mezcla de negros y nativos americanos). Cabe destacar que la autoidentificación étnica es cultural y biológicamente compleja y no está correlacionada con la ascendencia autoinformada, que ya no debe evaluarse mediante un cuestionario, sino mediante el uso de marcadores informativos de ascendencia (AIM) a nivel molecular. (Tomado del cuerpo del escrito)

A Review of Hypertension and Diabetes Protocols for Medical Service Trips (MSTs) in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This paper aims to study whether China’s OFDI has a significant crowding-out effect on the United States’ OFDI in Latin America and the Caribbean （LAC）, and to consider the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative. In the context of the strategic contraction of the United States and the active expansion of China’s global participation, western public opinion is worried about China’s rapidly expanding influence in LAC, the traditional sphere of influence of the United States. As OFDI is an important indicator of a country’s overseas economic activities, the study on whether China’s OFDI is crowding out the United States’ OFDI provides an important reference for judging the state of China-US relations in LAC. This paper uses a panel data set containing 35 LAC countries （regions） from 2003 to 2017, and divides the total sample into two sub-samples respectively according to the scale of natural resource abundance and government efficiency. Based on the gravity model, this paper uses the individual fixed effect model for empirical analysis, and the Spatial Durbin Model （SDM） to test the robustness of the regression results. The regression results of the individual fixed effect model show that, on the whole, every $1 increase in China’s OFDI will lead to a $2.23 increase in the United States’ OFDI. For resource-rich countries and regions, every $1 increase in China’s OFDI will lead to a $1.71 increase in the United States’ OFDI. For resource-poor countries and regions, China’s OFDI has no significant impact on the United States’ OFDI. For countries and regions with high-efficient governments, every $1 increase of China’s OFDI will lead to a $6.31 increase in the United States’ OFDI. However, if the host country and China sign a cooperation document to jointly build the Belt and Road, the promotion effect will be reduced to $0.04. For countries and regions with low-efficient governments, every $1 increase in China’s OFDI will lead to a $2.02 increase in the United States’ OFDI. Therefore, this paper concludes that in LAC, overall, China’s OFDI attracts the United States’ OFDI, and the Belt and Road Initiative has no significant negative impact on the United States’ OFDI, and also has no significant negative impact on the attraction of China’s OFDI to the United States’ OFDI. However, for resource-poor countries and regions in LAC, the positive impact on the attraction of China’s OFDI to the United States’ OFDI is insignificant. For countries and regions with high-efficient governments in LAC, the Belt and Road Initiative weakens the attraction of China’s OFDI to the United States’ OFDI. The regression results of SDM verify this conclusion. The results show that Chinese and American capital can coexist in LAC. In the future, these two countries can strengthen cooperation and deepen mutual trust under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, so as to eliminate the negative impact of the initiative on the United States’ OFDI in some countries and regions. This paper creatively takes the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative into account when studying the crowding-out effect of China’ OFDI, and empirically tests the conjecture that China’s ODFI has crowded out the United States’ OFDI in LAC through econometrics research. It enriches current research ideas in the field of OFDI.

This report examines the health and economic impact of noncommunicable diseases (NCD) in Latin America and the Caribbean and the governance, design, and implementation of multisectoral policies to prevent these conditions. These include polices to improve diets, increase physical activity, and reduce tobacco use and alcohol abuse. The report focuses on how policy decisions involving multi-sectoral interventions to prevent health risk factors are taken, which stakeholders directly or indirectly participate in these decisions, which incentives they face, and what strategies they use in these processes.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) preferred to use the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and other regional and sub-regional forums rather than the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) to promote their international trade agenda. Many Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries were not contracting parties of GATT. Those that were, participated only passively in GATT multilateral trade negotiations prior to the Uruguay Round (UR), meaning that they did not engage in a significant way in the mutual exchange of concessions on a reciprocal basis.