Comment Updated with information based on national sources available as of January 2012.
What is the LMW Database?
The Latin American and Caribbean Macro Watch Database puts the material behind the macroeconomic analysis carried out by the IDB Research Department at the fingertips of a broad range of users. Since 2001, the Latin American and Caribbean Macro Watch has been a key source of independent macroeconomic analysis for regional monitoring and forecasts, contributing to a policy dialogue with the IDB Board of Directors, government officials and policymakers in Latin America, financial analysts and investors, other multilateral organizations and government officials of developed countries. Thanks to a widespread effort from the Research Department and partner CERES, the data behind the Latin American and Caribbean Macro Watch analysis is now accessible in a systematic fashion.
What information is available?
The database collects information from public sources (mostly web based) in IDB's 26 borrowing member countries and adds to it a set of useful indicators that allows for better monitoring of macroeconomic conditions.
The database spans the period 1990-2011, and contains information at annual, quarterly, monthly and sometimes daily frequencies, based on data availability. The complete dataset includes 1,146,581 registers, contained in 9,312 series that can be readily accessed over the internet.
Data is organized at the global, sub-regional, and country level, the latter typically divided into six categories: i) economic activity and employment, ii) prices and wages, iii) fiscal accounts and public debt, iv) external accounts, v) money and banking, and vi) financial markets. Each month, the series corresponding to a different sub-region is updated (Central America, the Caribbean, South America and Mexico) so that on average series are updated quarterly.
How does the LMW Data Tool work?
A user-friendly web interface allows users to easily locate and download data in Excel format. The accompanying video tutorial allows users to get acquainted with the tool. Details regarding series content and availability at other frequencies can be found at the end of each downloaded series. For user convenience, frequently used queries can be saved for systematic retrieval.
Key indicators for each of the 26 member countries can be accessed through country tables, which compare some key variables against their sub-regional counterparts.
This database is the result of a joint effort led by RES (Alejandro Izquierdo, Luis Daniel Martinez and a team of Research Assistants) in partnership with CERES (Ernesto Talvi and a team of 4 researchers).
Disclaimer: Indicators contained in the LMW Database are gathered from official institutions' publicly available databases and other online publications. None of the indicators contained in this database has been officially endorsed by the IDB. IDB does not guarantee either their precision or validity, even though every effort has been made to ensure its quality.
