Latin America & Caribbean

The economic malaise of the past few years weakened social progress and had an adverse effect on jobs and household incomes: inequality has risen and around one-third of Latin Americans remain vulnerable to falling back into poverty.

However, with a return to growth last year, livelihoods and human development outcomes improved slightly – the economic recovery helped rebuild social pillars that in turn eased poverty and boosted prosperity. Socioeconomic strengthening has also helped support the economic recovery via greater investments in people, particularly the poor.  Efforts to build resilience to shocks - economic, natural and social - is also part of the reform agenda to ensure sustainable and equitable long-term growth in line with the SDGs.

The OPEC Fund's footprint in the Latin America and Caribbean region extends to 31 countries. In 2019, US$122m was approved to  six countries - with the majority supporting  the financial (US$35m), energy (US$26m), water & sanitation (US$25m) and agriculture (US$20m) sectors.