On a more positive note, the tendency towards lower inflation seen in prior years became more pronounced in 1995. Growth in trade between LAC and the United States as well as intraregional trade, increased again in 1995. U.S. exports to the region continue to support close to two million jobs in the United States. Another important trend is the diversification of trade among Latin America and Caribbean countries. Expanded trade and lower inflation have enabled the Latin American and Caribbean economies to grow, but poverty and inequality remain serious threats to both sustained growth and democracy.
Poverty persists as the fundamental challenge for a region commit ted to economic reform.
Sustaining those reforms is essential to growth and growth remains a major direct and indirect contributor in most countries, to reducing poverty. But, as the Hemispheric Summit follow-up Conference on Poverty in January 1996 concl uded, coherent national poverty strategies are urgently required. In the 1980s, the number of poor people increased dramatically, and this trend has yet to be turned around in the 1990s. The most recent data show signs of reductions in poverty rates in some countries since 1990. This will be an important trend to watch as more data become available.