REGION REPORT | LATIN AMERICA


R Jaso overhead hoist.


with fewer resources to offset the challenge. There were early indications of a modest recovery, as most of the world has seen, although the region is now (April 2021) facing the wave that most other parts of the world had in December and January. Forecasts are indicating that the recovery could be a two- or three-year process. It is our smallest served geographic market currently, but it has been the most heavily impacted by the pandemic.” “Chile is probably the country that has managed the pandemic best in Latin America,” says Jose Padilla, international sales manager of Harrington Hoists. “Their economy is a bit more open now than most other South American economies – that was helped in part by an increase in copper pricing in November 2020 - and they have applied more vaccines than any other country in Latin America. Even so they still suffered around 6% contraction in GDP for 2020, due to a very rigid shut down and quarantine conditions for most of the


year. Peru and Mexico have been deemed to have managed the Covid pandemic least well. The Mexican government decided against giving incentive packages that would help private businesses and apparently, due to low testing, is still under reporting its Covid numbers while at the same time having one of the highest Covid mortalities in the world. There is also some concern as to how the Mexican Government is managing the economy. The previous administration, albeit full of alleged corrupt practices, maintained a very friendly environment for foreign direct investment. The current administration is more focused on expanding government control of many aspects of the economy, causing serious concerns that could deter much needed foreign investment. Peru´s government has been marred by turmoil, with forced changes in the Presidency and the dissolution of Congress over the past couple of years, and it has recently gone once again into a full lockdown. Colombia


is suffering its worst unemployment in the country´s history and Ecuador has a key presidential election later this year that could determine the direction the country will follow in the next few years.” There are, he says, bright spots: “There


is a saying that says ‘if the US economy sneezes, Mexico catches pneumonia.’ When Covid first started, Mexico’s industries shut down partly because the US economy slowed down or was in lock down. It suffered severely: Mexico´s GDP fell about 8.5% during 2020, its worst drop since 1932. Once the US opened up, business in the export industries became very good, at least for us, especially during the summer months, and is still decent on average now. We have also noticed a rebound in South American sales in the last few months, mostly due to the fact that Chile, Latin America’s most prosperous country, seems to be managing the Covid crisis very well. We expect a nice GDP growth in Chile for 2021. And for Peru,


www.hoistmagazine.com | April 2021 | 33


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