Paraguay, the best place in the region for business, says FGV

Monday, March 11th 2024 - 11:04 UTC

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Paraguay topped the FGV report while Argentina climbed significantly with the first measures announced by President Milei

The Latin American Economic Climate Index (ICE) released this weekend by Brazil's Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) highlighted Paraguay as the Mecca for business ventures in the region given the country's outstanding performance.

According to the report, the business climate in Latin America reached its best level in the last 11 years during the first quarter of 2024, thus achieving a milestone since the first quarter of 2013.

It was the first time since 2018 that the index remained two consecutive quarters within the so-called favorable zone, with more than 100 points, it was also explained.

The study notes that the improvement in the first quarter was driven by Brazil's improvement from 100 points in the last quarter of 2023 to 114.6 in the first quarter of 2024.

In this scenario, Paraguay tops the list with 154.6 points, followed by Uruguay with 139.4 points and Brazil with 114.6 points as the business climate improved in the entire region except Mexico and Chile, where declines were detected. Paraguay is projected to grow the most this year, with an expansion of 3.9%, followed by Uruguay (3.2%) and Mexico (2.8%). The study also showed an upward revision of GDP growth projections for 2024 in Uruguay, Chile, and Peru.

The FGV report highlights that, despite the increase in their indexes, other countries remained in the unfavorable zone (below 100 points) - Peru (85.3), Colombia (72.8), Chile (72.7), and Ecuador (42.2) while Argentina climbed from 26.1 to 41.7 with the first economic measures announced by President Javier Milei. Bolivia remained at the bottom of the list with 20.8 points.