Next year, Latin America will have to borrow $400 billion to compensate for the lack of national capital, a high-ranking World Bank official said.

``It will not be simple, even for multilateral financial institutions used to this level of borrowing, among other things, because the capital available in developed countries is being used for their own stimulus measures,'' said Pamela Cox, World Bank vice president for Latin America.

Cox spoke Tuesday morning at the 13th annual Americas Conference, presented by The Miami Herald, Florida International University and the World Bank.

Fox said the borrowing should be no more than $400 billion.

Latin America already has $2.94 trillion in foreign debt.

The region also suffers from high unemployment because of a deep fall in exports, said Cox, quoting figures from the United Nations Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

``They project exports, including the Caribbean, will fall 11 percent this year, the biggest fall in 72 years, and the region's 2010 economic growth will barely be 1 percent,'' said Cox.

According to Cox, ``The economic rebound in the region will depend substantially on the economic situation in the rest of the world.

``An improvement in the world's economic landscape will benefit prices and a stronger demand for goods, services and exports, which the region depends greatly on,'' she said.

According to the World Bank, half of the economic growth in the 2002-2008 period was due to higher prices of commodities and exports in the world market.

``Latin America probably will enjoy a shorter route to economic growth than other countries, among other things because of new financial regulations. This avoided deep currency devaluations and bank failures,'' she added.

And the region's growth was not better because of the Mexico crisis. Mexico had a negative growth of 3 percent, said Cox.

``Whatever you call them, the old left, the new left, liberals, neoliberals or conservatives, the truth is that Latin American leaders have implemented pragmatic solutions, a mix of social and fiscal policies with a human face. This pragmatism is a big help in reducing the gap between rich and poor in Latin America and will be a key issue once the crisis is over,'' she added.

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