Environment

In 2018 Mexico’s economy ranked second in Latin America and 15th in the world in terms of GDP, which totalled $1.22trn, according to the World Bank. In 2019 the newly elected President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has pushed ahead with efforts to meet his pledge to tackle corruption and implement austerity measures within the government, to reduce costs and curb excessive expenditures.

Efforts to improve public governance are gradually bolstering confidence in Papua New Guinea’s economy, despite national performance being heavily dependent on the extractive industries. Backed by macroeconomic development plans, Prime Minister James Marape’s administration is seeking to improve debt management, reduce foreign exchange imbalances, widen access to social services and provide greater employment opportunities.

The Philippines’ cooling inflation, improved ease of doing business and increased openness to foreign participation are set to encourage more foreign direct investment. A wealth of infrastructure investment under President Rodrigo Duterte’s flagship Build Build Build programme should ease congestion, reduce regional inequality and further boost the flourishing tourism industry.

Peru has seen relatively stable economic growth and significantly reduced the number of people living in poverty. Still, there have been multiple cases of corruption, but the government of President Martín Vizcarra Cornejo, who took office in 2018, has focused efforts on combatting this and stabilising the political climate. Nevertheless, challenges to ensuring sustainable development remain.

As Egypt is the most-populous Arab nation and third-most populous in Africa, population pressure is driving the nation’s economic agenda, with an estimated 3.5m young Egyptians entering the labour force by 2023. Recent years have seen an array of public initiatives aimed at encouraging private sector activity, but these remain hampered by a challenging economic backdrop and structural hurdles.