The economic crisis is a reality, which is why all the countries of the world are already designing and implementing strategies to deal with it. For example, in the United States, concern is growing; in November, consumer prices fell significantly, raising concerns about possible deflation in that country. The Labor Department said the retail inflation index fell 1.7 percent last month after falling one percent in October, a record decline since data began collecting in 1947.Energy prices plunged 17 percent last month, doubling the 8.6 percent drop recorded in October. This is the strongest monthly decline since records began in 1957.
"I think we're in a deflationary spiral that will probably continue until sometime next year. I think it will probably continue for most of 2009," Thomas Di Galoma, head of Treasuries & Co in New York, told America Economía. This is because amid rising unemployment and a recessionary economy, consumers have cut back on spending, encouraging a moderation in inflationary pressures.
To this we must add the expectation generated by the recent elections in that country, as President-elect Barack Obama has promised to implement a national public works program to help revive the economy. According to América Economía, specialists expect Obama to sign, as soon as he takes office, a multi-year spending package that could be in excess of $750 billion.
Latin American countries are also planning different courses of action; for example, during the last semi-annual summit of Mercosur, held in Costa de Sauipe, Brazil, the president of that nation, Luis Ignacío Lula da Silva, said that "Mercosur, together with our friends in Latin America and the Caribbean, will not passively attend the debate on the world crisis, we will have an important role to play in the construction of a new international economic political architecture."
While the Argentine president, Cristina Fernández, indicated that "we must revitalize our instrument to relate to other markets of a different vision of what was done before the crisis, and consider new paradigms that seemed untouchable."
For her part, Michelle Bachelet, president of Chile, constituted the National Employment Committee which, according to the mandate, will have the function of "recommending measures to deal with the economic crisis and the impact on employment that it has", in addition to "advising on the detailed monitoring of the employment situation in each commune of the country".
Among the measures adopted by Central America are capitalizing the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), creating a regional currency, new laws and investment in infrastructure. According to the Honduran newspaper Tiempo Digital, the program will also include a study on the establishment of the Central American Clearing House, the creation of a regional currency and laws that regulate the financial system before the arrival of foreign banks, in order to shield economies.
