Foreign direct investment (FDI) worth $367.3 million flowed into Barbados in the first half of the year.
This information comes from the Central Bank of Barbados, which says this represents a $109.9 increase in FDI when compared with the $257.4 million the country received in the first half last year and the $523 million for all of 2024.
The half-year economic report presented by Central Bank Governor Dr Kevin Greenidge recently noted that “foreign investment rose sharply, reflecting improved investor confidence and increased financing to both the public and private sectors”.
“These inflows helped to offset a widening current account deficit, which reflected higher merchandise imports, increased profit repatriation, and a marginal decline in corporation tax receipts from financial global business companies, even as travel receipts posted strong gains,” he said.
“As a result, international reserves expanded by $695.2 million, reaching a record $3.9 billion, equivalent to 37.4 weeks of import cover, and well above the international benchmark.”
FDI is also increasing overall in the region, based on the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean’s (ECLAC) new report Foreign Direct Investment In Latin America and the Caribbean 2025.
ECLAC said that FDI inflows in Latin America and the Caribbean totalled US$188.9 billion in 2024, up 7.1 per cent.
It noted that this figure was, on average, 13.7 per cent of the region’s gross fixed capital formation, and 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product in 2024. This was below the levels recorded in the 2010s, when it accounted for 16.8 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.
An ECLAC spokesman said data on Barbados was not included in the report.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t include Barbados in the report. We did not have the information on FDI inflows and outflows disaggregated – only the net flows – therefore data was not directly comparable with other countries. I hope we can solve this issue for next editions,” they said.
ECLAC stated that an analysis of FDI by component indicated that FDI growth in 2024 was driven by transnational firms that already operated in the region, mainly due to increased reinvestment of earnings, while the contributions of capital remain stagnant, which reflected new companies’ limited interest in locating in the region. “Project announcements, meanwhile, rose due to a big push from hydrocarbons investments, while renewable energy and more technology-intensive sectors lost ground in this area,” it said.
José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ECLAC’s Executive Secretary said: “At ECLAC, we believe that Latin America and the Caribbean must harness Foreign Direct Investment to achieve more productive, inclusive and sustainable development. “Using FDI as a strategic tool within productive development policies will be key to achieving this.
“Fittingly, we include in this report a series of guidelines that can help improve the technical, operational, political and prospective capabilities of countries and their territories in relation to policies aimed at attracting
investment and creating a positive ECLAC publication in 2024 America in South disparate”.
“In in FDI and a which similar with respectively. sector cent Nations Latin remains the United said biggest the Caribbean, cent impact on productive development,” he added. ECLAC said in the annual publication that FDI inflows grew 2024 in the Caribbean, Central America and Mexico, while the results South American countries “were disparate”. In 2024, there was an increase FDI inflows to manufacturing a decline in the services sector, which led to these two sectors having similar weight as a share of FDI, with 43.6 per cent and 40.4 per cent, respectively. The natural resources sector had a smaller share – 16 per of the regional total,” the United Nations organisation shared. Latin America and the Caribbean remains heavily reliant on FDI from United States, which the report “consolidated its position as the biggest investor in Latin America and Caribbean, accounting for 38 per of the value invested in 2024”.
“The share of the European Union – excluding Luxembourg and the Netherlands – fell to 15 per cent of the regional total in 2024 – the lowest figure since 2012. The investments coming from within Latin America and the Caribbean represented 12 per cent of FDI inflows, ranking as the third place of origin. Meanwhile, Chinese FDI represented just two per cent of total inflows in 2024,” ECLAC said.
The organisation deemed worthy of consideration that “only a small proportion of FDI inflows coming from China are recorded in balance of payments statistics, since a significant number of Chinese investments pass through third countries and another large amount has been in the form of purchases of assets that already belonged to foreign companies or in modalities that do not comprise FDI, for example, as concessions or construction contracts”. (SC)
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