This Summary of the Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean, 1998-1999 is the first chapter of the Survey, and is being published simultaneously in Spanish and English. It provides an assessment of the region’s economy during 1998 and the first half of 1999. The summary also presents a brief overview of the regional chapters of the Survey: the external sector, macroeconomic policy, activity levels, inflation, employment, saving and investment. It is accompanied by a statistical appendix containing 13 tables taken from the regional chapters, with data series through 1998. Wide distribution of the summary is intended to serve the purpose previously performed by the Economic Panorama of Latin America, a publication that appeared in September of each year between 1985 and 1996. Thus, it provides information on economic trends in the region during the first half of the year within the context of the previous year’s performance.