The Caribbean Actually Saw A Gain In Foreign Direct Investments Last Year

By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. July 16, 2021: Almost 70 billion US dollars flowed into the Caribbean region in 2020 as foreign direct investment, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the devastating toll it has taken on most regional economies. The amount was at least 8 billion more than 2019.

That’s according to an analysis of FDI inflows into the region as reported in the UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2021, released Thursday, and analyzed by News Americas.

This was mainly because of the offshore financial sectors of two British dependent territories and the new oil rich nation of Guyana. The British Virgin Islands, The Cayman Islands, the Dominican Republic and Guyana all reaped investments of a billion and up.

The BVI saw the largest inflow at USD 39,620,000 followed by CI with USD 23,621,000. The DR and Guyana were less lucky – rolling in USD 2,554,000 and US $1,834,000, respectively.

The biggest losers for the region were Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname.  FDI to Trinidad and Tobago turned negative, to -$439 million, with a severe impact in the energy industry, which accounts for approximately half of GDP, while inflows to Suriname continued a negative trend from 2019, dropping to -27 million.

The report’s authors said, however, that the Caribbean region suffered from the collapse in tourism and the halt in investment in the travel and leisure industry triggered by the pandemic and an overall contraction of its economies, mainly caused by a 15 percent decline in FDI to the Dominican Republic, the major recipient in the region.

In Haiti, FDI flows dropped from $75 to $30 million, in response not only to the pandemic crisis but also to civil unrest and the alarming worsening of the humanitarian crisis that has continued since 2018.31.

FDI is not expected to recover to its pre-crisis level before 2023, the report said. In 2021, real GDP is expected at just 3.7 percent in the Caribbean.

Globally, the report says flows of foreign direct investment were severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, they fell by one third to $1 trillion, well below the low point reached after the global financial crisis a decade ago.  The report also noted that “a substantial recovery of FDI to Africa and to Latin America and the Caribbean is unlikely in the near term.”

Here’s how the Caribbean made out in FDI inflows in 2020 compared to 2019.