WCA 2026: IDB's Laura Alfaro Maykall and IMF's Rodrigo Valdés on Regional Economic Outlook

Speakers

• Laura Alfaro Maykall, Chief Economist, Inter-American Development Bank
• Rodrigo Valdés, Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund
• Brian Winter, Editor-in-Chief, Americas Quarterly (moderator)

"Given the shocks we have seen, Latin America has entered this year with a lot of resilience," said IDB Chief Economist Laura Alfaro Maykall to open her comments at the 56th Washington Conference on the Americas. Maykall joined IMF Fiscal Affairs Director Rodrigo Valdés in a conversation moderated by AQ Editor-in-Chief Brian Winter to discuss the region's economic outlook amid global uncertainty.

Maykall added that the region can still improve its relatively low growth and productivity rates by investing more in human and physical capital as well as encouraging more competition. She emphasized that "development in Latin America is not going to happen without the private sector."

In his analysis, Valdés noted that some Latin American countries have been able to benefit from recent shocks to the global economy. "There are many oil exporting countries that benefit. Second, commodity prices in general have increased," he pointed out. At the same time, Valdés cautioned that debt-to-GDP ratios continue to rise and that political polarization present in many countries threatens long-term economic planning.

On the question of crime and insecurity's impact on the economy, Valdés stressed the importance of anti-money laundering policies and regional information sharing as a couple of ways financial authorities can combat this issue. "I think the fact [...] that there is coordination across multilaterals [and] governments is a step in the right direction," Maykall said.