Latin America has significant economic links to China, with trade, foreign direct investment and loans skyrocketing in recent years. That means that the impact of Covid-19 in China, will have important consequences in the region.
While it is still too early to fully understand its impact on China’s growth, and how it will result in a slowdown in our region, what we know so far is that COVID-19 is spreading at an accelerated rate and has caused a disruption to China’s economy. It is very likely that the impact on China’s growth and commodity prices, besides, represents a shock to Latin America.
Close links
Latin America and the Caribbean have significant links to China, economic relations increased dramatically in recent decades, particularly through trade, foreign direct investment, and loans. Trade with China increased to $306billion in 2018 from $12billion in 2000 and is already the second trading partner. Three years ago, it represented 9% of total Latin American exports and 18.4% percent of total imports.