More than half of the direct foreign investment the Caribbean received in 2017 was concentrated in the Dominican Republic, according to a recent report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The report highlighted the Dominican Republic received US$3.57 billion of the US$5.84 invested in the Caribbean in 2017.
In the Caribbean, FDI inflows were up by 20%, while the composition of FDI inflows has shifted with a decline in investment in natural resources and an increase in services and manufacturing. In the services sector, investment has grown in renewable energies and telecommunications.
The ECLAC briefing paper “Foreign Direct Invesment: Latin America and the Caribbean” is critical to the lesser positive impact of FDI on national development in the Latin American and Caribbean region, including helping to generate positive effects on employment, productivity or sustainability.
Overall, the report says that cases that stand out are the increasing investments in the automotive sector in Mexico and Brazil and manufacturing and services for export in Central America and the Dominican Republic. “But these cases are still not enough to drive a transformation of the region’s production structure,” highlights the report. It recommends that FDI attraction policies need to be integrated into sustainable development plans in the region, affording particular importance to building local capacities, both for attracting FDI and for tapping its advantages.
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ECLAC
ECLAC
Diario Libre
9 July 2018
