Nicaragua’s foreign direct investment maintains growth in first half of 2013

Nov. 14, 2013 - During the first semester of 2013, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in Nicaragua reached US$690 million, a 9 percent increase compared to the US$633 million received during the same period in 2012. This demonstrates the confidence investors have in establishing their operations in the country, which offers various competitive advantages such as a favorable business climate, solid legal framework, government support and high levels of personal safety.

This amount of FDI inflows was generated by a total of 201 projects, originated from a total of 31 countries. In the first half of 2013, the top five origins of FDI inflows were the United States (24%), Panama (20%), Mexico (14%), Canada (5%), and Spain (5%), representing 70 percent of total investment.

For this period, FDI inflows were registered in ten different economic sectors; the top five were industry, trade and services, financial, telecommunications, and energy, which accounted for 89 percent of the total. Furthermore, US$105 million corresponded to industrial and trade and service companies operating under the free zones regime, which represented an increase of almost 60 percent in comparison to the US$65 million obtained in the first semester of 2012.

The country also registered FDI figures, which refer to the total FDI incomes minus all capital outflows and foreign payments. For the period, FDI figures reached US$443 million, a 7 percent increase in comparison to the US$415 million accounted for the same period in 2012.

Nicaragua’s foreign direct investment increase is also being noticed worldwide. According to the American Cities of the Future 2013/14 report published by the Financial Times FDI Intelligence division, Managua, Nicaragua’s capital city, ranked third in the hemisphere behind Montreal and Toronto in the category of strategy for attracting foreign direct investment. Managua was the only city in Central America to rank in the top ten of this category.

For more information contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.