Latin America Can Count on Masses for Next Phase of Growth

Latin America can count on the masses for the next phase of growth. Though epitomized by a handful of people like the world’s richest man, Carlos Slim, and showy political leaders spearheading the region’s commodity-led export economies, a burgeoning middle class will make its mark in 2013 powering Latin America’s future. Consumers are wielding newfound clout from Mexico City to Tierra del Fuego. The World Bank reckons some 50 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the region over the last decade, swelling the middle class ranks. That, in turn, has created millions of new borrowers. Unemployment is very low in some places while wages are rising in others. Take Brazil’s $2.5 trillion economy. Despite modest GDP growth, consumers have been resilient. Sales at shopping centers may top $58 billion in 2012, the seventh consecutive annual increase, according to trade group A...