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P.R. makes debut in IMF World Economic Outlook report

Francisco Montalvo.

Francisco Montalvo.

Puerto Rico has been included for the first time in the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook report released Tuesday, opening doors for future economic development, local executives in charge of representing the island before the entity said.

In October 2015, the World Economic Forum informed its partner institutes in Puerto Rico — the Institute of International Competitiveness of Puerto Rico at the Interamerican University, Bayamón Campus and Puerto Rico 3000 — on the decision regarding methodological changes in the Global Competitiveness Report that affected the results for the island.

Given the changes, and for reasons not directly related to Puerto Rico, for the first time since 2006 the WEF did not include data from the island in the 2015 Global Competitiveness Report. The primary reason for that was WEF’s decision to use IMF statistics as the main database, in which Puerto Rico does not participate.

To ensure that Puerto Rico met the WEF’s new requirements and was included in future reports, Puerto Rico Statistics Institute Executive Director Mario Marazzi “made every effort to get the island included in the IMF,” said Francisco Montalvo, Coordinator for WEF in Puerto Rico.

“Today is a historic moment for Puerto Rico. The inclusion of the island in the in the IMF report is not only a great initial achievement to reinstate Puerto Rico in the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Index, but also opens the doors to the effective comparison overall of the island in various global forums such as the Global Innovation Index,” Montalvo said.

Andria Salvá, President of Puerto Rico 3000, said “Puerto Rico is the third most competitive [jurisdiction] in the hemisphere according to the results of the WEF 2014 report.”

“It is definitely significant it is included in the world’s high-caliber economic reports used by many of the largest multinational companies in the world to decide where to establish their businesses,” she said.

“This in turn will bring to Puerto Rico new business opportunities and economic development, as a competitive place from where they can operate their business in the Caribbean and Latin America,” Salvá added.

Author Details
Author Details
Business reporter with 30 years of experience writing for weekly and daily newspapers, as well as trade publications in Puerto Rico. My list of former employers includes Caribbean Business, The San Juan Star, and the Puerto Rico Daily Sun, among others. My areas of expertise include telecommunications, technology, retail, agriculture, tourism, banking and most other segments of Puerto Rico’s economy.
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