Economic Development

Latin America’s emerging sectors: A closer look at fintech and renewable energy

February 20, 2018

Global

February 20, 2018

Global
Melanie Noronha

Principal, Policy & insights

Melanie is a principal at Economist Impact. She has over ten years of experience delivering consulting and thought leadership projects to public, private and not-for-profit organisations. Based in Dubai, she leads the Middle East and Africa team on research across a range of sectors including food sustainability, recycling, renewable energy, fintech, trade and supply chains. She is a specialist in advanced recycling technologies and international trade. She is a seasoned moderator, having chaired numerous panel discussions and presented Economist Impact's research at global in-person and virtual conferences.

Before joining The Economist Group, she was a senior analyst at MEED Insight, a research and consulting firm serving Middle East and North Africa. At MEED, she developed expertise in bespoke market studies and financial modelling across a range of sectors spanning construction, finance, power and water, oil and gas, and renewable energy. She held previous posts at the Office of the Chief Economist at the Dubai International Financial Centre and at the San Francisco Center for Economic Development. Melanie has an MSc in International Strategy and Economics from the University of St Andrews and a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

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This report explores high potential emerging economic sectors in Latin America, focusing on financial technology (fintech) and renewable energy. We review the factors driving growth in these sectors and key impediments to further growth. This report is based on extensive desk research and in-depth interviews with entrepreneurs and regional experts in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).

There is a strong consensus in the market that 2018 will be a better year than 2017 for LAC economies. Private demand is expected to bolster growth and a rebound in commodity prices will ease macroeconomic pressures. However, the region’s ultimate performance hinges on a number of critical factors—one among them is the outcome of elections in the region’s largest economies, including Brazil and Mexico. This, more than other factors, may prove to be a deterrent to foreign investors and an impediment to local business activity.

In this report, we review the economic landscape in LAC and explore two emerging sectors that have the potential to drive sustainable growth in the region—fintech and renewable energy. Fintech provides new ways to engage a 633m-strong population, and thus drive private consumption and support other rising sectors such as e-commerce. Renewable energy is growing in its importance to meet the rising demand for electricity—it not only helps governments to achieve carbon emissions targets, but there is a strong economic case for it as a result of falling prices.

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