Executive summary

In 2020 the coronavirus disease pandemic (COVID-19) weighed heavily on the investments of transnational corporations. Foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into Latin America and the Caribbean amounted to US$ 105.480 billion, some US$ 56 billion less than in 2019. Thus, the lowest value in the last decade was recorded in 2020, and the year-on-year decline is comparable only to that of 2009, when inflows fell by 37.1% as a result of the global financial crisis. Moreover, the effect of the pandemic on FDI was more severe than its effect on GDP, reflected in the FDI share of GDP that stood at a mere 2.5% in 2020, down from an average of 3.5% in the 2010s (see figure 1).

Sustainable Development Goals:

Decent Work and Economic Growth