Public debt and growth in Latin America: Diagnoses, interpretive emphases, and proposed responses in international organization documents

diagnósticos, énfasis interpretativos y salidas esbozadas en documentos de organismos internacionales

Authors

  • Victor Octavio UNESP

Keywords:

Public debt, Economic growth, Latin America

Abstract

This article analyzes how recent documents from international organizations have interpreted the relationship between public debt, low growth, and the narrowing of fiscal space in Latin America. The study combines documentary analysis of recent reports and studies on debt sustainability, development, and financing. The review of the materials shows a basic convergence around a regional picture marked by weak growth, persistent debt, higher financing costs, and narrow fiscal space. However, the analysis also identifies differences in interpretive emphasis and response horizons: while some documents prioritize sustainability, credibility, and the rebuilding of buffers, others emphasize development, investment, debt service burdens, creditor composition, and constraints in international financing. The article concludes that public debt remains a central issue in the region, and that its interpretation and possible responses cannot be reduced to a single formulation.

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References

Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe [CEPAL] (2023). Public debt and development distress in Latin America and the Caribbean. https://hdl.handle.net/11362/48910

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CEPAL (2025). Panorama fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe, 2025: Impulsar la inversión para el crecimiento y el desarrollo sostenible. https://hdl.handle.net/11362/81583

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Organización para la Cooperación y el Desarrollo Económicos [OECD] et al. (2023). Latin American Economic Outlook 2023: Investing in Sustainable Development. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/8c93ff6e-en

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Conferencia de las Naciones Unidas para el Comercio y el Desarrollo [UNCTAD] (2025). A world of debt 2025: It is time for reform. https://unctad.org/publication/world-of-debt

World Bank (2024). International debt report 2024. https://doi.org/10.1596/978-1-4648-2148-6

Published

2026-07-01

How to Cite

Octavio, V. (2026). Public debt and growth in Latin America: Diagnoses, interpretive emphases, and proposed responses in international organization documents: diagnósticos, énfasis interpretativos y salidas esbozadas en documentos de organismos internacionales. Cuadernos De Economía Crítica, 12(24), 191-199. Retrieved from https://cec.sociedadeconomiacritica.org/index.php/cec/article/view/422

Issue

Section

Lecturas Criticas