The Pacific Pumas

Pacific Pumas
Dark green: The Four Pacific Pumas.
Membership	Member states  Colombia  Chile  Mexico  Peru
Population
• 2012 estimate	206,831,371a
GDP (PPP)	2013 estimate
• Total	$US 3,110.538 billion
• Per capita	$US 14,356.84
HDI (2011)	0.764 high
Combined census estimates of member states.

The Pacific Pumas are a political and economic grouping of countries along Latin America’s Pacific coast that includes Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The term references the four larger Pacific Latin American emerging markets that share common trends of positive growth, stable macroeconomic foundations, improved governance and an openness to global integration.

The term was coined by political economist Samuel George in 2012, and developed in a 2014 study authored by George and published by the Bertelsmann Foundation entitled The Pacific Pumas: An Emerging Model for Emerging Markets.

The Puma, a new-world cat found along Latin America's Pacific Coast is “rapid, agile, intelligent, independent, and strong” qualities attributed the Chilean, Colombian, Mexican, and Peruvian economies in the 21st century.

The term was coined to emphasize that quietly and efficiently, Pacific Pumas have distinguished themselves from other large Latin American emerging markets in terms of economic growth and stability, commitment to democracy, and global integration. The name references the Four Asian Tigers of the 1990s whose successes the Pumas wish to emulate, and just like the Tigers, the Pumas adopted a model based on macroeconomic stability and global integration, with a particular focus on East Asia. The term also suggests that the model of economic development and democratic governance adopted by the Pumas could be a model for global emerging markets more broadly. In a Wall Street Journal feature, journalist Mary Anastasia O'Grady described the development model of the Pumas, in terms of a focus on openness, currency stability, fiscal restraint, and competition as "doing the heavy lifting" to ensure economic success.

Puma growth averaged 4.9 per cent annually from 2005 to 2013 in the four countries, compared to 4.4 percent in the Asian Tigers. This growth has allowed the four countries to make inroads against poverty, without sacrificing their business-friendly disposition. The Pacific Pumas have also distinguished themselves in terms of their macroeconomic stability. Inflation has been held within central bank bands across the four economies, with average annual inflation below 3 percent since 2009, and ranging from 1.73 per cent to 3.60 percent in 2013 across the four countries.

The Pacific Pumas have been early adopters of managed currency floats, meaning that domestic currency conversion rates are allowed to fluctuate based on market impulses. Central banks help guide or stabilize movements via foreign exchange interventions, such as calls or puts on US dollars, or swaps that offer hedges without committing reserves.