Welcome

I am an economist in the Fiscal Management Division (FMM) at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). My past work experience includes positions as Country Economist for El Salvador at the IDB, Director of Public Credit at the Ministry of Finance in Guatemala, Lecturer in International Trade and International Finance at Universidad Rafael Landivar in Guatemala, as well as consulting for international organizations and think tanks.

My professional interests focus on issues in public finance and development economics, including aspects such as tax evasion and avoidance, the fiscal impacts of climate change, and the potential challenges and opportunities of the emergence of digital currencies in the context of public finance.

Latest blogs and publications

  • What are the fiscal risks from extreme weather events and how can we deal with them?

    Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to the impacts of climate change. This implies great challenges for governments and finance and planning ministries in particular. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reports that the impacts of weather-related events, including heatwaves or floods, have claimed more than 312,000 lives in the region and affected more than 277 million people between 1998 and 2020 … [Read more...]

  • Fiscal policy and climate change: Understanding the fiscal impacts of increasing extreme weather events (in "Fiscal Policy and Climate Change. Recent experiences from Finance Ministries in Latin America and the Caribbean")

    In the current context of climate change, the magnitude, frequency and duration of the fiscal impacts caused by natural disasters has gained relevance for public finances. Since records started, we have observed 17 out of the 18 years with the highest average temperature during the period between 2021 and 2017. Global warming has coincided with a considerable increase in the annual frequency of climate-related natural disasters … [Read more...]

  • How can tax policy promote investment in the post-pandemic period? (with Emilio Pineda and Oscar Valencia)

    Promoting private investment -both foreign and domestic – must be the cornerstone of any pro-growth fiscal policy in the post-pandemic period. Governments in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) must ensure that the design and implementation of such policies – which usually involve the use of tax incentives – protect tax revenues and attract the type of investment that can … [Read more...]

  • Tax policy and incentives to invest (in Chapter 2 of "Opportunities for Stronger and Sustainable Postpandemic Growth")

    Recovery from the crisis will require investment, but high corporate taxes may discourage foreign direct investment (FDI). Hence, governments seek to offer fiscal regimes that appeal to foreign investors. Tax incentives have been prevalent to attract investment but pose a dilemma for policymakers. On the one hand, they may boost growth and employment, and attract new technologies. On the other hand … [Read more...]