LATIN AMERICAN GROWTH

Sir, Mr Hugh O'Shaughnessy (January 3rd), writes that the lowering of economic growth rates and the lack of improvement ink the…

Sir, Mr Hugh O'Shaughnessy (January 3rd), writes that the lowering of economic growth rates and the lack of improvement ink the lot of slum dwellers in Latin America was due to the wave of neo liberalism which had crept out of the White House of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, and out of the Downing Street of Margaret Thatcher.

This is inconsistent with the facts. Only one Latin American country, Chile, has been applying neo liberal economic policies since the mid 1980s. This resulted in an average annuals growth rate in GDP in Chile of 6.2 per cent from 1985 to 1992. The growth rate in 1995 was 8.5 per cent. Although poverty levels, are still high in Chile, they have fallen considerably over this period.

I think your readers would appreciate more facts and analysis, and less ideology, from your correspondents. Yours, etc., Hamburg, Germany.