Increase in foreign direct investments in Uruguay

By Pittaluga Abogados

Uruguay experienced a 2.8% increase in foreign direct investment in 2018, compared to 2017, totaling 2,702 million dollars. This is explained by the growth of 77.2% of capital contributions and by 62.2% of reinvestment of profits, the latter component being the main source of foreign capital in 2018 (68% of the total).

According to the report of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) entitled “Foreign direct investment in Latin America and the Caribbean,” South America received in the year 2018 about 128.994 million dollars of investments, which represented a 14.4% increase compared to the previous year.

On the other hand, the aforementioned report indicates that the sectors that used the investment promotion regime to a greater extent were the food industry (almost 55% of the total projects that resorted to this benefit), followed by commerce, telecommunications and the hotel sector.