The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said that foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Latin American region in 2023 reached more than 184.3 billion USD, down 9.9% compared to 2022.

The decline was due to a 14% and 23% drop in FDI inflows to the region’s leading economies, Brazil and Mexico, respectively. However, Central America and the Caribbean saw notable growth in FDI in 2023, with Costa Rica recording a 28% increase.

According to ECLAC Executive Secretary José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, FDI can help Latin America cope with challenges such as low growth traps, instability, monopolies, inequality, lack of social cohesion and ineffective governance. José Manuel recommended that countries in the region should make more efforts to sustain the effective development of FDI projects.

HOANG THANH