Latin America better prepared to weather turmoil, IMF says

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Latin America as a whole is better prepared to deal with global market turbulence than it used to be but it is important that the region stay alert, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.

Alejandro Werner, the IMF's director for the Western Hemisphere Department, added in a press conference that he did not see any external factors that could boost growth in Latin American countries from current levels in 2014.

Werner said the impact of weaker currencies on consumer prices in the region is lower now than it was 20 years ago.

(Reporting by Alonso Soto; Writing by Silvio Cascione; Editing by James Dalgleish)