while poverty rates remain high in a significant number of countries the rate for the region as a whole is the lowest to be attained in the last years while this was lower than the per capita growth rate posted in it nonetheless consolidates the regionwide recovery from the downturn seen in argentina and panama boasted the highest per capita growth rates followed by ecuador pem uruguay and chile per capita output rose less than only in brazil el salvador guatemala and honduras see table the steady downtrend in this rate seen in every year since except has yielded the lowest figures since the mid s and almost all of the latin american countries had rates below