The economies covered by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) grew 4.3 percent in 2005, unchanged from a year earlier, United Nations economic body ECLAC said in a report published on Thursday.

"The preliminary balance sheet for Latin America and the Caribbean," presented by ECLAC general secretary Jose Luis Machinea, estimated that regional growth would average four percent for the 2003-2006 period, and that gross domestic product per capita would rise by an average of 11 percent.

The UN body said that this was a good sign but regional growth remained low compared to the average rate of 5.7 percent for developing countries in general.

The ECLAC report stated that countries of the southern cone had grown the fastest, with Venezuela registering nine percent growth, Argentina growing 8.6 percent, and Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Panama each growing more than six percent.

It said that the growth was accompanied by rising current account surpluses across the region, something that has not happened for at least 50 years.

The Economy of Mexico, a regional giant, had decelerated to three percent in 2005 from four percent in 2004, the ECLAC said. It added that unexpectedly high oil prices meant the country was still able to cut its public debt by 1.3 percentage points.

The economic body held that the 2006 presidential elections are not likely to cause any major upsets in Mexico's economy.

Source: Xinhua