Over the past five years, the economic performance of Latin America and the Caribbean has already been disappointing, and growth rates on average have hardly been positive, said the World Bank.

According to the World Bank, gross domestic product in the Latin America and Caribbean region, excluding Venezuela, is expected to drop 4.6% in 2020, Bloomberg reported.

The economic drop asks for “several policy responses to support the most vulnerable, avert a financial crisis, and protect jobs,” the World Bank said in a report called “The Economy in the Time of the Covid-19.” But if governments manage to preserve jobs, the region should resume growth quickly and the GDP should expand 2.6% in 2021.