The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) says Latin America and the Caribbean received US$194.2 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) last year, or 1.7 per cent more than in 2024.
But ECLAC in its latest report released here said that in a scenario of great uncertainty and heightened global tensions, the results were uneven across destination countries and sectors.
ECLAC said that the relative weight of FDI in the region’s economies varies significantly between countries, but on average, the FDI received by the region as a share of Gross Domestic Product (2.8 per cent) and gross fixed capital formation (14 per cent) held steady in 2025.
According to the annual report titled ‘Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2026: Navigating the New Global Context’ the majority of countries in South America and Central America received more investment in 2025, whereas the dynamics in the Caribbean were heterogeneous.
After Brazil and Mexico, the countries receiving the most FDI in 2025 were Chile, seven per cent, Peru and Colombia, six per cent, Guyana five per cent and Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, three per cent each.