The article deals with the role of Latin America in the world economy during the pre- and post-crisis period. It analyses the dynamics of the indicators that define social and economic capacity of the region and the impact of the world financial crisis in different types of the region's countries. The article examines in details structural and regional shifts in the foreign trade of Latin America. The analysis revealed the major problems of the region's foreign trade (branch and regional structure) and allowed to set out the ways of their decisions through the diversification of Latin American export and the intensification of intra-regional trade.

economic capacity, economic growth, structural shifts, Latin America, foreign trade, international economic relations, competition