RVAC Julio-Diciembre 2012 [#18 vol. 2]

Regional integration…
amount of foreign reserves of Bolivia and Brazil, for instance, increased seven
times in the period.
Figure 17. Foreign Reserves (USD billion), 2000-2005
Source: ECLAC (2012), Brazilian Central Bank (2012) and Central Bank of Ecuador (2012).
Figure 18. Foreign Reserves (USD billion), 2006-2010
Source: ECLAC (2012), Brazilian Central Bank (2012) and Central Bank of Ecuador (2012).
Summarizing the macroeconomic variables for UNASUR countries as discus-
sed in this sub-section, we observed that: (i) average growth rate and inflation
rate have been relatively similar for all countries. The exception was Venezuela,
basically in terms of the inflation rate; (b) the unemployment rate decreased and
converged, over the period, for all countries; (c) despite the difference in the exchange
rate regimes, the REER became relatively stable for all countries. More-
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