Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Chile reached US$7.286 billion in the first quarter of 2023, a 34 percent annual increase over the same period last year, InvestChile reported Monday.
The organization detailed that the accumulated figure as of March 2023 is 16 percent higher than the average of the first three months of the year in the last five-year period, which reached US$6.266 billion.
Chile’s Minister of Economy, Nicolás Grau, said this day after learning the results that the measures the local government has taken to boost the arrival and expansion of foreign capital are on the right track.
“We are working to bring more foreign investment to the country because this, in addition to reactivating the economy, translates into more and better jobs and, therefore, into an improvement in the quality of life of Chileans,” he said.
“We also appreciate the fact that foreign investment in Chile maintains positive figures amid a complex international economic context”, said the Secretary of State, he added.
Meanwhile, the director of InvestChile, Karla Flores, highlighted the results but warned that the global scenario remains challenging.
“A few days ago, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reported that FDI fell 24 percent last year in the world, so this rise to the first quarter in Chile is excellent news. In any case, we are monitoring global flows and attentive to changes in the international context,” he said.
“This invites us to continue working to maintain the confidence of foreign companies already investing in Chile and to motivate new companies to develop their projects in our country, which contribute quality employment, innovation, and new technologies to the value chain of Chilean industries”, he added.