Foreign Direct Investment in Colombia up 64% in Sectors Other Than Petroleum, Mining

The latest report from Banco de la Republica — Colombia’s national currency and banking regulator — shows that foreign direct investment (FDI) in Colombian business sectors other than petroleum and mining has jumped 64% this year, to US$2 billion.

However, the global crash in oil and industrial metals prices has resulted in a 47% drop in FDI in Colombian petroleum and mining, to US$2.26 billion, down from US$4.8 billion last year.

The report compares the periods covering January 1 through June 10, 2016, versus January 1 through June 12, 2015.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investment in Colombia so far this year is about even with last year, at US$1.76 billion, versus $1.78 billion in the same period in 2015, the report shows. That’s a marked improvement over a dip in portfolio FDI spotted earlier this year (see Medellin Herald on April 19, 2016).

Earlier this year, Banco de la Republica co-director Carlos Gustavo Cano pointed out in a speech that while FDI in petroleum and mining has fallen sharply year-on-year, Colombia’s industrial output is on the rise and the “tendency is toward recuperation” of national industry — in large part because of Colombian peso devaluation versus the U.S. dollar.