Latin American and Caribbean economies endured a tough 2014. Growth in regional gross domestic product was just 1.3% and this poor performance is expected to continue into the current year with growth dipping below 1%, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Falling commodity prices and political uncertainty are taking their toll.
This downturn is driven primarily by Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela. In the first two countries, the economy has stagnated in the past 12 months and the IMF expects them to tip into recession by the end of 2015. The downturn has been more pronounced in Venezuela, where the economy contracted by 4% in 2014 and is expected to fall by another 7% this year. However, banks from these three countries have performed well relative to their regional peers, gathering the most accolades in this year’s Top 200 Latin American banks ranking.