CEPAL keeps its 2026 Latin America growth forecast at 2.2%
By Alexander SchekGo-to-market and sales leadership in Latin America
1 min readCEPAL kept its growth forecast for Latin America and the Caribbean at 2.2% for 2026, with 2.5% for 2027, and says that pace is not enough to raise income per person. A rate is not an amount: Argentina at 3.3% and Mexico at 1.3% are percentages of economies of very different sizes.
CEPAL kept its growth forecast for Latin America and the Caribbean at 2.2% for 2026, with 2.5% for 2027, in its August update. Daniel Mauricio Salazar Castellanos listed the country numbers in Bloomberg Línea.
Guyana leads again with its oil boom. Argentina is expected to grow 3.3%, Peru 3.2%, Colombia 2.6%, Brazil 2.2%, Chile 1.6% and Mexico 1.3%.
CEPAL growth forecasts for 2026
CEPAL / ECLAC says that pace is not enough to raise income per person in a sustained way. It points to low investment, slow productivity growth, slower creation of formal jobs and high informality.
A growth rate is not the same as a dollar amount. Argentina at 3.3% and Mexico at 1.3% are percentages of economies of very different sizes, and the update does not give the dollar figures by country.
Sources: Bloomberg Línea, CEPAL list of the countries that will grow and contract the most in 2026 and 2027, August 20, 2026; CEPAL, press release on the region's growth outlook and productive formalization, August 20, 2026
Publication: Originally published on my professional LinkedIn on September 16, 2026.