ECLAC highlights "fiscal consolidation" of LatAm in 2017

SANTIAGO, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Last year witnessed fiscal consolidation in Latin America, featuring a rise in economic activity and a decline in the growth rate of public debt in the region, a UN official said here on Monday.

The improvement results from a containment of public spending and a proper distribution of fiscal revenue, said Alicia Barcena, executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) at a political forum here.

At the same event, Spanish Ambassador to Chile Carlos Robles said the rise in fiscal revenue permitted fiscal policy to have specific objectives linked to "economic growth, monetary and financial stability ... and the sustainability of the state."

The forum, known as the Regional Seminar of Fiscal Policy, is organized by ECLAC, along with the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Interamerican Development Bank and the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.

Gathering senior officials from across the region, the ECLAC presented its report titled Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2018, which analyzed current trends in the region and examines the historic evolution of fiscal policy over the last three decades as well as future challenges to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

According to the report, the region needs to reinforce its social welfare systems in order to improve social stability and the effect of fiscal secondary distribution.

The ECLAC report also noted that most countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have resource levels below their potential due to problems in tax administration and notably serious tax evasion.

According to ECLAC, tax evasion reached 340 billion U.S. dollars in 2015 in the region from income tax and value-added tax alone, accounting for 6.7 percent of the region's GDP. Enditem