The Pacific Puma: Emerging economy of Latin America
The term “The Pacific Puma” is given to the four economies of Latin American Countries i.e., Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile to represent the focus of global shifts to the Pacific Rim. These Pacific Puma’s economies has emerged as an engine of regional growth through improved governance, liberalized trade and stable macroeconomics like a new club of countries like Asian Tigers, Tiger Club Economies when the entire World dealing with the employment generation, growth and innovation.
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Characteristics of the Pacific Puma
- The four nations benefit from direct access to a web of supply chains and from possession of valuable resources such as copper and iron ore.
- The four countries have spearheaded a regional free trade and cooperation pact, the Pacific Alliance, which has captured global attention.
- Given the rise of China and the American pivot to the East, the Puma countries are poised to play a significant role in the emerging Pacific century.
- These Pacific Puma’s economies have taken their cues from the Asian tigers of the 1980s, quietly becoming economic overachievers rather than following the lead of the increasingly protectionist and interventionist Mercosur countries.
The Anatomy of a Puma
The Puma’s success stems from political and macroeconomic stability, an embrace of global integration and expanding private consumption. There are three anatomy of a Pacific Puma which given below:
- Good Governance: They have generally adhered to democratic norms, and transitions from right-leaning to left-leaning executives (and vice versa) have been relatively smooth.
- Trade: They successfully negotiated FTAs with the European Union; Mercosur has not.
- Private Consumption and Investment: Funnelling raw materials to global superpowers is old hat for the Andean Pumas. However, increases in private consumption hint that recent success represents more than simply capitalizing on Chinese growth.