WASHINGTON, A survey by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says approximately eight out of 10 companies in Latin America and the Caribbean believe their clients would value applying practices aligned with the environment and that they could adapt to meet these expectations.
The Washington-based financial institution said the survey result is “an improvement, compared to 2021, when 69 percent of respondents agreed with this position.
“Conversely, 6 percent of firms believe they do not have the necessary tools to adapt,” it said. “The main obstacles they point to are investment and financing (56 percent) and technical capabilities (30 percent).”
“More than seven out of 10 companies aim to increase investment linked to their export capacity or keep it stable over the next three years,” according to the Survey of Latin American and Caribbean Exporting Firms Decoding the New DNA of Exporters, prepared by the Institute for the Integration of Latin America and the Caribbean (INTAL) of the Integration and Trade Sector of the IDB.
Fabrizio Opertti, manager at the IDB’s Integration and Trade Sector, said, “exporting firms in the region are interested in incorporating green practices to boost their export projection, which opens up new opportunities for expanding and improving trade and making integration in Latin America and the Caribbean more sustainable.”
The IDB said some 564 micro, small, medium, and large enterprises from 23 countries in the region took part in the third round of the survey.
It said other noteworthy findings include less state assistance and moderate expectations.
The IDB said 59 percent of the companies responded they had not received aid from the government in 2022, “a value significantly higher than in 2021, when only 4 percent answered that they had not received it due to the context of the pandemic, although in line with what they responded in 2020 (64 percent).”
Around six out of 10 companies said that Latin America and the Caribbean were a destination market for them in 2021, more than in the previous year (49 percent), the IDB said.
It said some 43 percent of companies believe their exports will grow in 2022, down from 57 percent in 2021.
Conversely, the IDB said 27 percent said they expected their exports to fall, 16 percent thought they would stay the same, and the remaining 13 percent were unsure how they would evolve.
“Although a high percentage of companies in Latin America and the Caribbean (60 percent) reported having experienced transportation and freight-related problems with their exports when the pandemic began, half managed to solve these in 2021 and 2022,” the IDB said.
“These results give us many reasons for optimism, given that companies are overcoming the freight and logistics challenges of recent years and perceive sustainability as an engine of growth in the region,” said Ana Basco, director of INTAL.
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