LatinNews Daily - 21 December 2020

* A new report by the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Eclac) has put the cost of damages and losses caused by hurricanes 'Eta' and 'Iota' at L45.68bn (US$1.89bn). According to the Eclac report, over 4m people have been affected, leaving 2.5m in need of emergency assistance. There are 92,000 people in shelters, and 62,000 homes affected. The report estimates that half of these costs relate to direct damage, while 45% are losses, and the remaining 5% are additional costs resulting from the two storms. The transport sector has been particularly badly affected (L20.36bn), followed by water & sanitation (L7.1bn) and housing (L6.5bn). The report estimates that the damages – which are less than the US$10bn figure cited by Foreign Minister Lisandro Rosales on 14 December at an informal meeting of foreign ministers of European Union (EU) and Latin American and Caribbean countries – will translate into a 0.8 percentage point reduction in GDP growth in 2020. 

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