El Salvador

Outlook improves amid pick-up in external demand

Following the sharp drop in gross domestic product in the third quarter, the economy is likely to have suffered its worst economic crisis in decades. Nonetheless, growth prospects for 2010 have improved and the country should return to positive economic growth, buttressed by increasing external demand due to the recovery in the United States. However, given the severe economic contraction in 2009, output levels are unlikely to return to pre-crisis levels until 2011.