WORLD BANK SEES 3.7 OR 3.8% LATIN AMERICA GROWTH THIS YEAR

Tiwanacu, Bolivia, August 16 (Reuters)- The economy of Latin America and the Caribbean will grow by 3.7 to 3.8 percent this year versus the 4.3 percent clocked in 2011, the World Bank's regional vice president, Hasan Tuluy, said yesterday, slightly bumping up the bank's previous estimate.

In June the Washington-based multilateral lender forecast that growth in Latin America and the Caribbean would slow to 3.5 percent in 2012 before firming to 4.1 percent in 2013 and 4.0 percent the following year.

"For Bolivia," Tuluy told reporters while visiting a local cultural fair in the town of Tiwanacu, "we estimate 2012 growth of close to 5 percent compared with average growth in Latin America as a whole of 3.7 or 3.8 percent”.

Economies in the region are feeling the weight of Europe's debt crisis as well as a reduction in demand from China, a major buyer of Latin American commodities.

Bolivia's government forecasts 2012 economic growth for the Andean country of 5.5 percent, up from 5.17 percent last year.

Markedly slower 2012 growth in South America's two biggest economies, Brazil and Argentina, is seen at about 2 percent and 2.2 percent respectively, according to Rodrigo Chavez, another senior World Bank official who spoke in Tiwanacu.

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