Brazil was the recipient of 47% of all foreign direct investment (FDI) directed to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2016, a 5.7% increase compared to 2015. The country received US$ 78.9 billion in investments, the highest inflows of any country in the region. Next came Mexico, with US$ 32.1 billion (19%), and Colombia, with US$ 13.6 billion (15.9%).

Brazil’s improved FDI performance happens in a context of reduced investment in Latin America: overall inflows in the region decreased by 7.9% compared to 2015, totalling US$ 167.04 billion. The number also represents a decrease of 17% from the peak reached in 2011.

The data was released on Thursday (11) by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and is part of the briefing paper to its annual report Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2017.

The report also points out that “the fall in commodity prices continues to affect investments in natural resources, sluggish economic growth in several countries has slowed the flow of market-seeking capital, and the global backdrop of technological sophistication and expansion of the digital economy has concentrated transnational investments in developed economies.”