Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.Copyright (c) 2006 Standard & Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Inter American Development BankWashington D.C. May 9, 2008

Latin America: Golden or Leaden Casket ?

John Chambers, CFAManaging DirectorChairman, Sovereign Ratings CommitteeStandard & Poor’s

2.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.

Sovereign Ratings

3.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.

Sovereign Ratings

4.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.

Sovereign Ratings

5.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.

Quotation

Merchant of Venice

William Shakespeare

Act II, Scene VII

MOROCCO

O hell! what have we here?

A carrion Death, within whose empty eye

There is a written scroll! I'll read the writing.

Reads

All that glisters is not gold

6.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.

Ratings Latin America

  1998*lowest

1998-2008 2008**

Argentina BB SD (2001-2004) B+

Bahamas A- (2003) A- (2003-08) A-

Barbados A- (1999) BBB+ (2004-08) BBB+

Belize BB (2000) SD 2006 B

Bolivia BB- B- ( 2003-08) B-

Brazil BB- B+ (1999-00,2002-03) BBB-

Chile A- A- (1998-2002) A+

Colombia BBB- BB (2000-06) BB+

Costa Rica BB BB(1998-2008) BB

Dominican Rep. B+*** SD (2005) B+***

Ecuador B- (2000) CCC (2007) B-Long-term foreign currency sovereign ratings

* Jan 1 unless otherwise noted

** May 8, 2008

*** Credit Watch Negative

7.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.

Ratings Latin America

  1998*lowest

1998-2008 2008**

El Salvador BB BB (1998-99) BB+

Guatemala BB (2001) BB-(2003-2005) BB

Jamaica B (1999) B(1999-00,2003-08) B

Mexico BB BB (1998-99) BBB+

Panama BB+ BB(2001-07) BB+

Paraguay BB- SD (2003-04) B

Peru BB BB-(2000-03) BB+

Suriname B- (1999) B-(1999-2006) B+

Trinidad &Tobago BB+ BB+ (1998) A-

Uruguay BBB- SD (2003) B+

Venezuela B+ SD (2005) BB-

Long-term foreign currency sovereign ratings

* Jan 1 unless otherwise noted

** May 8, 2008

8.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.

GDP per capita annual growth

Real GDP per capita growth

-6%

-4%

-2%

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Colombia Peru Asian regional average growth*

* Simple average of per capita growth of China, Indonesia, India, Philippines and Thailand

9.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.

General Government balance / GDP

General Government balance / GDP

-14.0%

-12.0%

-10.0%

-8.0%

-6.0%

-4.0%

-2.0%

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Uruguay Suriname Brazil Peru Panama

10.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.

External financial sector debt / CAR

Net external financial sector debt/ Current Account Receipts

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Brazil Bahamas Panama

11.Permission to reprint or distribute any content from this presentation requires the prior written approval of Standard & Poor’s.

Inflation

CPI growth

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

Bolivia Costa Rica Dominican Republic Trinidad and Tobago Paraguay Jamaica

27% 51%