Interview: LatAm development model needs to change: ECLAC head

Latin America's development model is unsustainable and needs to change, according to a top official of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

As in much of the world, policies in Latin America are widening the wealth gap and degrading the environment while failing to promote growth, ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena told Xinhua in an interview on Friday.

"Latin America has the largest income disparity in the world, and the entire world is moving towards larger and higher inequality" with wealth concentrated in the hands of a few powerful families, said Barcena.

Noting the red tides threatening Chile's fishing industry along its Pacific coast and the air pollution in Mexico City caused by car driving, Barcena attributed these results to the improper development style which mainly relied on extracting and burning fossil fuels.

Besides eroding social equality and environment, the traditional development model is also questionable in terms of growth, said Barcena.

"Except India and China, which are currently experiencing lower growth than in previous decades, no part of the world is registering growth," said Barcena.

"There's less demand and trade, and everything is pointing to what is called 'secular stagnation,' indicating that we have to think more about the development models we are implementing," she added.

"Secular stagnation" is a term widely used by economists to describe the absence of growth in market-based economies with relatively high per capita income.

Thinking about a new development models is on the agenda of an upcoming meeting in Mexico City on May 23-27, where a document aiming to outline a regional development strategy for the coming years will be presented and discussed by attendants.

The UN-backed document, named "Horizons 2030: Equality at the center of sustainable development," gives consideration to greater social inclusion and income equality, according to the Santiago-based ECLAC in Chile.

At least three major global developments have to be considered for a new development strategy, Barcena said, citing the technological revolution and its impact on employment, demographic trends such as aging populations and migration, and "the rise of China" in both economical and political way.

"It can no longer be the same as before and ECLAC is proposing the economy engine be in line with environmental sustainability and full employment," said Barcena. "It's not just any kind of development or any kind of growth, nor at any cost."

Tax evasion is another major problem for the region, which failed to collect some 320 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, said the ECLAC chief, adding the need to strengthen local regulation and coordination with developed nations and offshore tax havens.

Latin America additionally needs to join the technological revolution to develop a more innovative development model, according to Barcena.

Employing more renewable energy is a worthy option. Barcena took Chile as an example, saying it "has made a significant pledge: by 2050, its energy matrix will derive 70 percent of its energy from renewable sources."

"We want a world where there is well-being, more equality, and more sustainability and employment. That's why ECLAC is proposing profound changes in Latin America's productive matrix," she said. Endi