RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Colombia received 110 foreign investment projects in the first semester of 2021 that come from 28 countries and are estimated to create more than 90,400 new jobs, official sources reported.
The state promotion agency ProColombia said in a statement that it facilitated the arrival of the 110 investment and reinvestment projects for some US$6.9 billion, a growth of 22% compared to the US$5.6 billion that arrived in the country in 103 initiatives in the same period of 2020.
Of this total, 59% corresponds to new investments, while 41% are reinvestments of companies already installed in the country.
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Among the investing countries are the United States, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, South Korea, France, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
“Business continues to go ahead. Foreign investment maintains its pace and continues to grow in the country, in this, which is the year of sure economic reactivation,” expressed ProColombia’s president, Flavia Santoro.
She added: “These 110 projects are the result of consolidating a ‘red carpet’ strategy to strengthen the arrival of efficiency investment to Colombia, with our commitment and conviction to attract projects that contribute to the development and competitiveness of our nation”.
The driving investments are infrastructure, renewable energies, software and information technologies, tourism, agribusiness, metalworking, and chemicals, and life sciences.
INVESTMENT EXPECTATIONS
According to the Medium Term, Fiscal Framework presented last June 15 by the Minister of Finance, José Manuel Restrepo, a recovery of foreign direct investment is projected for this year.
Along these lines, it is expected to increase from US$8.1 billion in 2020 to US$11.175 billion in 2021, which would represent a growth of 38%.
In that sense, ProColombia points out that this increase is a product of the country’s economic reactivation and the government’s strategy to attract investments. “We continue working to attract companies interested in relocating, especially taking advantage of the need to reorganize supply chains and the proximity to their headquarters,” said Santoro.
He also stated that given this opportunity, the Government “has been promoting the creation of facilitation tools for the establishment and expansion of investments, in addition to the adoption of sectorial and regional strategic policies to offer a consolidated package and ensure the establishment of new investments in the country.”
Likewise, ProColombia is preparing the 2021 edition of the Colombia Investment Summit, which will have a hybrid format between October 20 and 26 in Bogota and where “the portfolio of investment opportunities in all non-mining and energy productive sectors of the country” will be presented to international businessmen.