Argentina returns to the 25 most reliable countries for foreign investment

By Estudio Chaloupka

The consulting firm Kearney released its 2024 Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index (FDICI), which ranks the 25 most attractive countries for foreign investment. Argentina is back in the top 25, ranking 23rd.

This year's results reflect continued investor optimism about the global economy. A striking 88 percent of respondents across the world said they were planning to increase their FDI in the next three years—up 6 percent from last year. Furthermore, 89 percent—up from 86 percent in 2023—said that FDI would be more important to their corporate profitability and competitiveness in the next three years. And their level of net enthusiasm about the global economy rose markedly as well. While the optimism level grew only marginally to 64 percent, net pessimism decreased notably from 35 to 29 percent compared with last year.

Argentina, China, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, India, Brazil, Mexico and Poland are the only emerging markets included in the world rankings. 

The Index is an annual survey of global business executives that ranks markets that are likely to attract the most investment in the next three years. It is constructed using primary data from a proprietary survey of senior executives of the world’s leading corporations. It is calculated as a weighted average of the number of high, medium, and low responses to questions on the likelihood of making a direct investment in a select market over the next three years. Together, the markets presented to respondents in the survey received 95 percent of the world’s inward FDI flows in 2022.

Despite overall optimism on the state of FDI, investors are wary about mounting risks in the global operating environment, not least of which is the geopolitical turbulence that has been growing in various regions of the world. Indeed, investors anticipate continued geopolitical tensions in 2024.