MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sao Paulo and Santiago, most attractive cities in Latam for urban investment

The Brazilian megapolis has become one of the world’s leading business hubs

Brazil’s Sao Paulo is the most attractive city for investments in Latin America followed by Santiago de Chile and Mexico City according to the latest results from a paper by Colombian and Chilean experts released on Tuesday in Bogotá.

The Sao Paulo leadership according to the ‘Atractividad Index for Urban Investments’ in 2012 was a joint work from the Colombian University of Rosario Centre for Competitive Strategies (Cepet) and the Business Intelligence Office IDN from Chile.

Cepet and IND have been jointly developing the index and rankings since 2010 referred to the Latin American urban centres most attractive and with best climate for investment.

The Brazilian megapolis ranked first because of its amiable climate, size of the economy, strength of higher education, volume traded in the stock exchange and the presence of the world’s largest multinational corporations, according to the report.

Sao Paulo displaced Santiago de Chile which ranked top of the list in 2011, and fell to second place this year, in spite of the fact that IDN continues to rate Chile as the most competitive country in Latin America because of its urban infrastructure and low crime, among other conditions.

Mexico City follows with a strong domestic market, while Lima ranks fourth and Bogotá fifth. The following positions are occupied by Porto Alegre (Brazil); Rio do Janeiro; Monterrey (Mexico), Buenos Aires and Belo Horizonte (Brazil).

Cepet Director Saul Pineda and IDN CEO Rodrigo Diaz underscored the predominance of Brazilian and Mexican cities among the ten leading places in the 2012 index.

This can be explained because of “the importance of the national environment and the size of the market when investors at the moment of making decisions are looking for alternatives”.

Nevertheless since in the top twenty figure eight Brazilian cities this is supported on the fact the country is the largest economy in Latin America and seventh at global rating. Mexico ranks as the second largest economy in the region.