SANTIAGO – InvestChile, the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency, reports the South American country registered direct foreign investment flows of US$ 6,875 million in the first quarter of this year, according to figures published by the Central Bank.
The amount, which represents an increase of 167% compared to the same stretch of 2017, is higher than the annual total entered in 2017, when US$ 6,419 million were received. Likewise, it is the second highest figure for the period in fifteen years.
Chile saw 40% fall in Foreign Direct Investment last year – lowest since 2009
The director of InvestChile, Ian Frederick, stressed that the increase “is a clear signal of the investors’ view of Chile, as a reliable country to develop long-term international business. Undoubtedly it is an amount that is related to large-scale operations in the country, which is part of what we offer today: a leading, connected, talented country, with solid institutions, and with a State that is modernizing to facilitate the arrival of foreign and national investors, aiming to boost our markets and create jobs”.
On the other hand, the Chilean Minister of Economy, José Ramón Valente, assured that “there is a new air from the point of view of the trust of the investors since the arrival of President Sebastián Piñera. They are investors who trust us, in our government program. It is no coincidence that the entry of FDI has skyrocketed once the victory in the elections was known. ”
The most important component of the FDI flow in the first quarter was the reinvested earnings with US$ 3.149 million, while the second most important component was the participations in the capital that reached a net figure of US $ 2.059 million. In third place were the debt instruments, which reached US$ 1,667 million.
Flows during the period were mainly influenced by the acquisition of the Banmédica holding, by UnitedHealth Group, as well as by the purchase of 27.7% of the electricity distributor Transelec by the Chinese firm Southern Power Grid International.–MercoPress
