The inflow in January-April reached US$7,156 million.

In the first four months of this year, Chile received US$7,156 million in foreign direct investment (FDI), according to preliminary figures released this morning by the Central Bank of Chile. This represented an increase of 35% on the same period in 2019 when the inflow reached US$5,306 million. In April, there was an inflow of US$838 million.  

The figure for the first four months is 39% higher than the historical average (2003-2020) and 33% above the average for the past five years.

The acting director of InvestChile, Juan Araya, underlined the fact that the inflow of investment remains positive despite the crisis caused by Covid-19, which is negatively impacting both trade and investment worldwide. “Taking into account this difficult time for the Chilean economy, it is good news that the inflow of foreign investment has maintained its dynamism. So far, it reflects the resilience of the activity of overseas companies in our country but, at InvestChile, we have to continue working so that projects continue to be developed, focusing on job creation and bearing in mind that the forecasts indicate we will face difficult months as regards attracting investment. Overseas companies will be an important pillar of economic recovery once the pandemic has been overcome,” he said.

The most important component of FDI in January-April was equity, which represented an inflow of US$3,806 million. It was followed by reinvested earnings (US$2,316 million) and related borrowing (US$1,034 million).  

The inflow of equity through to April was not only high in relation to the past five years but was also the highest figure for that period since comparable records began in 2003.

InvestChile emphasizes that it is not possible to forecast investment flows over the coming months in a context in which UNCTAD has indicated that global flows may contract by between 30% and 40% this year.