This document identifies the key aspects of the current international economic situation and their principal implications for the macroeconomic performance of Latin America and the Caribbean. These aspects include preliminary indications that the global economic slowdown has come to a halt, which may be reflected by a degree of stabilization in the growth of international trade, although there is still no certain prospect of significant growth in either global GDP or international trade. Two trends combine within this potentially positive, but as yet uncertain, international picture: the first is linked to the effects of fiscal policies applied by the countries hardest hit by the 2008 global financial crisis, and the second to the repercussions of their monetary policies.