Colombia’s entrepreneurs overwhelmingly believe that peace will bring economic benefits for the country, though just over half support the talks. 

A new World Bank Group report, “Shared Prosperity and Poverty Eradication in Latin America and the Caribbean,” explored what has driven progress, and what it will take to sustain it. 

They may be “starting to make a difference” globally. 

The hope is that reducing working hours to six hours a day in public and private sector companies will free up energy during peak hours. 

The International Monetary Fund forecasts slowing growth in Latin America while the latest report from ECLAC shows a downward revision of its economic growth projection for the regional GDP from 2.2 to only a 1.0 percent increase in 2015.

Economist Bruno Seminario thinks that El Niño’s effects will be more pronounced than those of political developments.

The private sector industries that have reported difficulties in acquiring foreign exchange to import needed resources are not the only ones operating well below capacity. 

Mexican Juan Pablo Martínez is a mechatronics engineer who created the Automatische Technik robots that specialize in the packing, unpacking and repackaging of products as well as plugging bottles. 

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development invited Costa Rica to apply as a candidate for membership five years after it began its “push to join the exclusive club of developed economies.” 

Uruguay’s GDP expanded a strong 3.5% during 2014 over the previous year, with positive activity in most sectors of the MERCOSUR member economy.