WASHINGTON — What a difference a decade can make. Ten years ago, Latin America and the Caribbean received the new century in the midst of tremendous uncertainty. The Asian financial crisis and the Russian default had thrown the region into a tailspin with countries facing recessions in varying degrees.
Even after Asia rebounded, Latin America struggled. In 2001, Argentina's economy collapsed and registered the largest debt default in history. To avoid a similar fate, Brazil obtained a credit line of $30.4 billion from the International Monetary Fund in 2002, the largest in the history of the multilateral lender.
Today, the picture looks very different. News of default jolts other regions — not Latin America. As Brazilian officials like to point out, they've gone from debtors to creditors. For the first time in IMF history, Brazil recently lent money — $10 billion — to the world's lender of last resort. That is particularly newsworthy considering that the region just withstood the worst economic recession in 80 years. And while average growth in the region will drop to minus 2 to minus 2.5 percent in 2009, largely driven by the downturn in Mexico, growth is expected to recover in 2010 to around 3 percent.