ECLA foresees more economic contraction in Latin America due to human flu

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SANTIAGO, May 4 (Xinhua) -- The Economic Commission for Latin America and
the Caribbean (ECLA) said on Monday that the economy in the region will contract
over the 0.3 percent foreseen for 2009,due to the economic consequences of the
influenza A/H1N1, mainly in Mexico.

Meanwhile, ECLA General Secretary Alicia Barcena said that despite the new
estimation, the contraction will not be more negative than the contraction of
1.5 percent that the International Monetary Found (IMF) foresaw.

"Definitely, we are going to review the figures. It is possible that we
review it low trend, but not as low as the IMF, the signs we see, honestly, is
that Latin America has taken all the measures and that it will not be more
drop," Barcena said.

In the case of Mexico, the ECLA said that it estimates a deeply reduction
to the 2 percent that has been forecast before, because the disease has produced
strong contractions in sectors like live stock and tourism, due to the
stagnation of their economy.