The entity highlights that this year the value of imported goods will increase 36%, expanding 20% in volume and 16% in prices
At the end of 2021, Dominican exports are expected to grow 20%, driven by the 5% increase in export prices and a 14% expansion in the volume exported, according to a report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Meanwhile, the value of imported goods in 2021 will increase 36%, with a 20% increase in volume and 16% in prices.
At the regional level, ECLAC expects that, in 2021, there will be a 25% increase in the value of regional exports of goods, after falling 10% in 2020.
By 2022, the value of regional exports and imports of goods is estimated to grow by 10% and 9%, respectively, considering slower growth in regional and global economies.
These data were revealed by ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, Alicia Bárcena, when releasing the “International Trade Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2021” Report.
The report highlights how Dominican exports dropped 8.2% in the first half of 2020, and in the same period of 2021 increased 28%. Meanwhile, imports of goods fell 18.2% from January to June 2020 and then rose 36.8%.
Bárcena said that the region has a continuous trade deficit in the pharmaceutical sector, and only 13% of its imports come from the region itself. Brazil, Mexico and Argentina accounted for 58% of the total value of regional exports of pharmaceutical products in the period 2018-2020. Among the smaller economies, the Dominican Republic stands out as the fifth largest regional exporter. In that period, the main destinations for regional exports were the region itself (46%) and the United States (25%). For its part, the main supplier was the European Union, which concentrated 50% of total imports, followed by the United States (19%). Imports from the region itself accounted for only 13% of the total.
The region’s export dynamism in the medical device sector is due almost entirely to the performance of Mexico, Costa Rica and, to a lesser extent, the Dominican Republic, which accounted for 94% of the total value of shipments between 2018 and 2020. They are mainly from transnational corporations. In 2020, 89% of regional medical device exports went to the United States, while only 2% went to the region itself.
Low regional integration
Bárcena said that the pharmaceutical industry in Latin America shows low intraregional productive integration, and this is crucial to reducing the vulnerability of the region in the health industry. She advocated increasing it.
Source:
Hoy
