Looking at Latin America, coronavirus could hardly have chosen a worse moment to disrupt the global economy. Indeed, 2019 was not a good year for Latin America’s main economies: Brazil’s GDP growth reached just 1.2% (IMF data), a pace that is not enough to catch up for the losses accumulated during the recent recession; Mexico’s GDP contracted by 0.1% last year, the worst figure in the last decade; and Argentina suffered from yet another turbulent year, with a presidential election, negative GDP growth of -3%, and a heavily devalued currency.

Overall, the picture was disappointing, and now that we are entering a new decade,

the question is if the different countries in Latin America will be able to overcome the challenges that have made the last years so difficult. Coronavirus currently presents a daunting scenario, but once the storm is over, the region should take advantage of its enormous natural resources potential to develop the petrochemicals value chain.