Buenos Aires, Nov 15 (EFE) .- Latin America lost market share due to its lack of competitiveness, despite the recovery of exports in the last year, according to a report of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) presented today in Buenos Aires.

According to the Trade and Integration Monitor for Latin America and the Caribbean, prepared by the IDB, the The region must raise its productivity levels to gain competitiveness and regain influence in interregional markets.

According to the report, exports from Latin America and the The Caribbean grew last year by 13.2% compared to 2016, although in nominal terms the increase was only 3%, "markedly below the global growth".

This performance reflects a "volatile rise in prices associated with a fragile expansion of exported volumes".

The report notes that, without considerable growth in exports, Latin America and the Caribbean lost weight in the interregional market due to lack of competitiveness.

According to the IDB, the region has "the urgency of adopting policies to stimulate productivity oriented to improve competitive positioning in international markets. "

In what Latin America and the Caribbean are above the global standards is in the sale of services since the activity grew by 9.7% last year, while in the world the advance was 3.3%.

The 2017 Trade and Integration Monitor for the region includes recommendations with future perspectives, among which the IDB highlights electronic commerce as a "potential revitalizing force".

This activity is an opportunity to Latin America and the Caribbean in a "fragile and low competitiveness" context.

Cross-border and cross-company electronic commerce "grows at rates substantially above those of World trade in goods ", according to the IDB.

The report concludes that, once the boom in primary product prices has passed, the region will have to implement stimulus policies. to increase productivity and competitiveness in the international market and take advantage of the opportunity of electronic commerce.