
Middle East & North Africa | Europe | Asia | North America | Sub-Saharan Africa | Latin America | Tension points: Assessing the state of geopolitics
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Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Latin America
Author
Alicia Bárcena Ibarra
Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Chair of the Global Agenda Council on Latin America
Corruption has long been regarded as a significant problem for Latin America – perhaps the most significant of all. As such, it’s little surprise our respondents have identified this as the biggest concern currently facing the region, followed by education and increasing inequality.
But for Alicia Bárcena Ibarra, the United Nations Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), “institutions at the national and sub-national levels in the region have already undergone deep changes to further build their capacities for greater transparency and accountability”. In 2012, the government of Ecuador implemented Systematic anti-corruption measures, including a rise in police salaries; this subsequently resulted in the country gaining four points, year on year, in Transparency International’s annual Corruption Index. The most recent index also showed that Uruguay has become Latin America’s least corrupt country, and is now on a par with the United States.
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We need an equilibrium between the state, the legislative and judicial branches, the civil society and private sector.

“We need an enhanced equilibrium between the state, the legislative and judicial branches, the civil society and private sector, which are instrumental for change.”
Honest, balanced institutions will be essential if Latin America is to tackle its financial concerns. Bárcena Ibarra underscores the need for policies to transform informal economies into formal ones. While micro, small and medium-sized companies encompass more than 70% of employment, which is often informal, they contribute very little to the region’s GDP.
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TweetWhile recognizing the importance of education has pushed governments to extend public resources poured into the sector from 3.4% of GDP in the 1990s to 5.3% in 2011, Bárcena Ibarra insists there is an urgent need to improve quality, raise the profile of technical training and increase coverage of pre-schooling, secondary and tertiary schooling.
“Technical and vocational training are fields of education that have been left behind, both in terms of public and private investments. Knowledge, innovation and technology are not sufficiently stimulated by our society. Without major agreements between public and private institutions, the needs of the labour market and modern technology are not connected to technical education.”
Investing in the formation of capital and infrastructure are a “high priority for the region”, which has excessively relied on consumption and exports. “In this slowdown of the economy, Latin America is extremely vulnerable to the external context. The only way our region can counteract is through investments, both public and private.”
Current investments represent 21.7% of continental GDP – levels Bárcena Ibarra says fail to cover the needs in infrastructure, education and health. By comparison, investments in Asia reach 40% of GDP, while the OECD boasts levels ranging between 32% and 36%.