On the occasion of the thirty-fourth session of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC);, (San Salvador, August 2012);, the Commission considered it timely to provide the governments and other economic actors in the region with this brief report on the complex international scenario and its potential consequences for the region. The report has two parts. The first examines the current international situation and the outlook for the global economy, focusing on more structural, medium-term issues. The second part assesses the potential impacts for the region in the short run and gauges the available space for deploying countercyclical policies.