Foreword .-- Chapter I. Challenges of maintaining expansionary fiscal policy to drive transformative recovery post-COVID-19 .-- Chapter II. Net wealth taxes in Latin America .-- Chapter III. Gender-responsive fiscal policy in Latin American countries .-- Tables.

In 2021, Latin America and the Caribbean faces an economic and social context that will remain complex and uncertain. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic continues to impact the region, with a fresh wave of cases that has led to the implementation of new public health measures to curb the spread of the virus. Vaccination campaigns, which are a priority, have been hampered by unequal access to vaccines globally and challenges in vaccine production and distribution. In this complex and uncertain context, the Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2021 analyses the challenges for fiscal policy in the region as it continues to tackle the emergency and bring about a transformative post-pandemic recovery. Maintaining an expansionary fiscal policy will be key, and will require the support of international cooperation through development financing. The report also reflects on the need to promote tax policies that expand fiscal space, improve income distribution and maintain the sustainability of spending trajectories. Lastly, it examines progress in the mainstreaming of a gender perspective in fiscal policies in the region.

Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2019 examines the role of tax policy as a tool for driving progress towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. One way to strengthen collection is to address the challenges of taxing the rapidly growing digital economy. Tax policy can also be used to shift production and consumption patterns to encourage decarbonization of the economy and support improvements in public health. Lastly, the document analyses the constraints on domestic resource mobilization caused by fiscal incentives and how, effectively geared towards investment, these incentives could instead foster sustainable and inclusive development.

Foreword .-- Chapter I. Public finance trends in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2021 .-- Chapter II. The future of fiscal rules in Latin America and the Caribbean: inputs for their reformulation following the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic .-- Chapter III. Fiscal frameworks for the exploitation of non-renewable natural resources in Latin America and the Caribbean.

This publication examines the social impact of an unprecedented crisis. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have spread to all areas of human life, altering the way we interact, crippling economies and bringing about profound changes in societies. The pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated the major structural gaps in the region, and it is clear that the costs of inequality have become unsustainable and that it is necessary to rebuild with equality and sustainability, aiming for the creation of a true welfare state, long overdue in the region.

This edition of Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean coincides with an important milestone: the thirtieth anniversary of the Regional Seminar on Fiscal Policy organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

The region is facing a complex economic situation, marked by slowing growth, rising inflation, interest rate hikes and volatility in international markets. This context puts pressure on public finances, compounded by increasing demands for social welfare, investment and environmental sustainability, which pose fiscal policy challenges. The Fiscal Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2022 proposes a fiscal policy design that would help to drive sustainable development, by strengthening tax collection and making tax structures more progressive, and giving a strategic orientation to public spending to turn it into an instrument of development. The report analyses the fiscal trends observed in 2021, which included an upturn in tax receipts and a slowdown in public spending that resulted in smaller fiscal deficits. It also examines fiscal rules and the mechanisms used to ease them during the pandemic, proposing a rethink of these rules aimed at pro-growth fiscal policy. Lastly, it studies the fiscal frameworks applied to hydrocarbon production and mining with a view to maximizing their contribution to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.