Spanish Companies Set To Increase Investment In Latin America In 2015

Latin America continues to be a highly attractive investment destination for Spanish companies, with Peru, Colombia and Mexico forecast to be key investment markets in 2015.

Spanish investment in the region was high in 2014 with a total of €143 billion invested in Latin America, which represents 43% of total Spanish investment abroad. According to the eighth edition of the Panorama report on Spanish investment in Latin America, the main destinations for Spanish investment were Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Chile and Peru.

Future investment from Spanish companies in Latin America remains strong. This is despite the recent economic slowdown in the region caused by a fall in oil prices and other commodities, as well as a change in exchange rates. 74% of Spanish firms polled for the Panorama study stated they plan to increase their investment in Latin America, 6% plan to reduce their investment and 20% said their investment levels would remain the same. Among small and medium enterprises, 80% intend to increase their investment in Latin America.*

However, in the same study conducted three years ago, 95% of Spanish companies surveyed planned to increase their turnover in Latin America within three years; that figure has now dropped to 74%. Growing interest from Spanish companies to invest in other...