7

Resilience to recent global turmoil allowed Latin America and the Carib-
bean to grow 45 percent in scal 2012. Growth is projected to slack to 34
percent as a result of the slowdown in China, the regions key trading part-
ner and the engine behind the solid growth and market diversication of
the past few years. Even more modest growth is projected in the Caribbean
and Central American countries.
Unprecedented growth and economic stability over the past decade
pulled some 73 million people in the region out of poverty. In spite of the
global nancial crisis, the region remained stable.
World Bank Assistance
Bank support for Latin America and the Caribbean reached $6.6 billion
this scal year, of which $6.2 billion came from IBRD and $448 million from
IDA, including $202 million in grants. Brazil ($3.2 billion), Mexico ($1.5 bil-
lion), and Colombia ($660 million) were the largest borrowers. The sectors
of Public Administration, Law, and Justice ($2.0 billion); Transportation
($1.2 billion); and Education ($1.0 billion) received the most funding.
The development agenda in the region needs a stronger focus on in-
creasing productivity, reducing dependence on low value-added com-
modity exports, addressing production capacity constraints, modernizing
infrastructure, boosting innovation, and making the state more eective.
The Bank supports eorts to sustain the regions economic growth while
opening up opportunities for all through programs that increase the
creation of quality jobs and assist people in need through conditional cash
transfers, which were pioneered in the region.
Creating Opportunities
To contribute to the regions demands for sustainable and socially inclusive
growth, the World Bank has upped its strategic support to individual coun-
tries in the region.
Conscious of the regions diverse development needs, the Bank delivers
a suite of nancial, advisory, and convening services that are tailored to
each country. From straight nancing of development projects, including
sophisticated contingency lines of hazard-related credit, to in-depth de-
velopment research, the World Bank Group has supported the regions
social and economic agendas to the tune of $14.7 billion in scal 2012.
New strategies for Brazil and Bolivia are aligned with the countries ef-
forts to create more economic opportunities for the underprivileged and
are built on advances of previous partnerships that expanded access to
basic services, education, and health to many.
Brazils $8 billion Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) 20122015 calls for
close coordination with its new national extreme poverty eradication
program, Brasil sem Misria (Brazil without Poverty), which focuses on the
northeastern states, to improve social and economic opportunities for 16
million of the countrys most vulnerable people. (See http://documents
.worldbank.org/curated/en/2011/09/15273914/brazil-country-
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
FIGURE 2.7
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
IBRD AND IDA LENDING BY SECTOR | FISCAL 2012
SHARE OF TOTAL OF $6.6 BILLION

Transportation 19%
31%
Public Administration, Law,
and Justice Information and Communications < 1%
Education 16%
Health and Other
Social Services 9%
Finance 4%
Energy and Mining < 1%
Industry and Trade 5%
Water, Sanitation, and
Flood Protection 5% 11% Agriculture, Fishing, and Forestry
FIGURE 2.8
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
IBRD AND IDA LENDING BY THEME | FISCAL 2012
SHARE OF TOTAL OF $6.6 BILLION
Economic Management Urban Development 12%
Trade and Integration < 1%
4%
Financial and Private
Sector Development 6%
Environmental and Natural
Resources Management 16%
Human Development 21% Public Sector Governance 13%
Social Protection and
Risk Management 12%
Social Development,
Gender, and Inclusion 3%

Rule of Law 1%
Rural Development 12%

Photo: Maria Fleischmann
8
partnership-strategy-cps-period-fy2012-2015.) In turn, Bolivias CPS will
aect the lives of 3 million people, largely from rural areas, and support
directly 1 million farmers in the countrys impoverished north.
On the second anniversary of Haitis tragic earthquake, a new interim
strategy provided $225 million in grants toward the countrys reconstruc-
tion eorts. This funding supports the safe return from camps of more than
22,000 displaced persons, improves neighborhoods for 75,000 people, and
nances tuition waivers for about 100,000 schoolchildren.
Children continued to top the Banks human development agenda.
Five million mothers, and children from birth to age 6, beneted from pro-
grams developed throughout Latin America under the Early Childhood
Initiative: An Investment for Life. After two years of operation, the initiative
has approved $400 million worth of projects, doubling the initial projected
funding, and surpassed the original total commitment of $300 million for
the period 201013.
In scal 2012, several countries took out lines of credit as insurance
against unforeseen economic circumstances and the risk of natural disas-
ters. El Salvador activated a $50 million line of nancing after massive
ooding left thousands of Salvadorians homeless and caused widespread
damage.
Improving Citizen Security
Crime and violence are key development challenges throughout Latin
America and the Caribbean. In parts of the region, this scourge has taken a
steep toll on people and local economies. In Central America, for instance,
14,257 lives are claimed annually by crimean average of 40 people per
daycosting countries up to 8 percent of their GDP.
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Dominica
Dominican
Republic
Antigua and
Barbuda
Argentina
Belize
Plurinational State
of Bolivia
Brazil
Trinidad and
Tobago
Uruguay
Repblica
Bolivariana de
Venezuela
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
St. Kitts and
Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent and
the Grenadines
Suriname
Ecuador
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
COUNTRIES ELIGIBLE FOR WORLD BANK BORROWING
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN REGIONAL SNAPSHOT
Total population 0.6 billion
Population growth 1.1%
Life expectancy at birth 74 years
Infant mortality per 1,000 live births 18
Female youth literacy 97%
Number of people living with HIV/AIDS 1.7 million
2011 GNI per capita $8,544
GDP per capita index (2000 = 100) 128
Note: Life expectancy at birth, infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births, and female youth
literacy are for 2010; other indicators are for 2011 from the World Development Indicators
database. HIV/AIDS data are from the 2012 UNAIDS report, Together We Will End AIDS.
TOTAL FISCAL 2012 TOTAL FISCAL 2012
New commitments Disbursements
IBRD $6,181 million IBRD $6,726 million
IDA $448 million IDA $342 million
Portfolio of projects under implementation as of June 30, 2012: $33.2 billion
LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN RESULTS
HIGHLIGHTS
The Rio Grande do Norte Rural Poverty Reduction Project in
Brazil has helped 90,000 poor rural families, created 12,000 jobs,
provided 53,000 families with access to water, and more than
tripled the agricultural productivity of beneciaries of joint water
and productive investments. The project also created 2,100 com-
munity associations, which are improving the relationship be-
tween poor communities and state and local authorities. (See
http://go.worldbank.org/3VC16UY3R0.)
In Hondurasone of the most vulnerable countries in the
world to natural disastersthe Natural Disaster Mitigation Project
helped improve the countrys capacity for managing disaster risk
and reduced local disaster vulnerability in participating munici-
palities. The project improved the ood early warning systems
for four of the main watersheds destroyed by Hurricane Mitch and
helped complete structural mitigation measures in 58 munici-
palities, beneting more than 500,000 people. (See http://go
.worldbank.org/CKKYM2YDT0.)
The impact of crime and violence is so profound that experts fear de-
velopment can be set back many years as a consequence.
This year, for the rst time in the region, a CPS approved by the Board
included a pillar on citizen security. The new CPS for Honduras, the country
with the highest murder rate in the world, will support, among other
things, the distribution of violence-prevention toolkits in at least 200
schools, as well as the implementation of a comprehensive security plan in
at least 10 municipalities in the countrys center, north, and east regions. It
will also help build institutional capacity against money laundering and an
improved database for crime and violence. (See http://documents.world
bank.org/curated/en/2011/11/15506299/honduras-country-
partnership-strategy-period-fy2012-2014.)
The Bank has also contributed to addressing this issue by providing
technical assistance to SICA (Central America Integration System) in devel-
oping the prevention pillar of the Central America Citizen Security Strategy
and by convening key players from the private and public sectors to gen-
erate practical responses to the regions increasingly lax security. (See
http://worldbank.org/lac.)
IBRD 34945R3
AUGUST 2012
for 2012 Annual Report locator maps