MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Foreign investment in Chile doubles to 15 billion in 2007

The Chile Foreign Investment Committee (FIC) reported Wednesday that foreign investment in Chile almost doubled to 15 billion US dollars in 2007. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment (FDI) grew almost 94%, compared to 2006.

FIC vice-president Carlos Mena said FDI has reached the highest rate in Chile's history and was due mainly to reinvestment of 10 billion in profits made by multinationals already present here. Canada was the principal source of materialized FDI at 333 million US dollars, followed by the United States, with 265 million, Colombia with 194 million and Spain with 106 million. Mining sector investment accounted for 22.9% of materialized FDI, followed by the retail industry (19.1%) and the financial service sector (18.2%). Electricity, gas and water sectors accounted for 12.3%. The FIC approved 95 projects in 2007 worth 2.10 billion, including 44 new initiatives valued at 1.1 billion. Mena said he expected 2008 FDI to exceed the amount invested in 2007, since a lot of investment that already has been authorized has not yet materialized. He added that he is not worried that foreign investors will leave Chile as a result of last year's economically disappointing second half. Most investments are coming through Chile's Decree Law 600 (created in 1974 to offer guarantees for large scale investments) are for long-term projects, said Mena. Local market tendencies, he said, do not have much influence on foreign investment. The Santiago Times