Chile Sees FDI Spike 87 Percent in First Quarter
May 15th, 2013By Narayan Ammachchi
Chile received more than US$ 9 billion in foreign direct investment in the first quarter of this year, according to official figures released this week.
The FDI inflow increased 87 percent compared to $4.87 billion received in the previous three months. More than five billions dollars flowed into the country in March, the highest monthly foreign investment in the past 16 months, according to the Central Bank.
According to ECLAC, Chile received more than 30 billion USD in foreign direct investment in 2012, making it the second largest FDI recipient in the region after Brazil.
Last year, Latin America and the Caribbean set a record in foreign direct investment (FDI) (6.7% more than in 2011), despite international conditions characterized by shrinking FDI flows worldwide.
Chile has also stepped up its investment elsewhere in the region. “Outward direct investment by LAC countries came …
Launch a Business in a Day? In Chile It’s Now Possible
May 9th, 2013By Narayan Ammachchi
Launching a business in Chile is far easier today than it was a few days ago. The Southern Cone has inaugurated an online platform that allows anyone to start a business in a matter of hours and at zero cost.
If you are planning to start a business, all you need to do is: Fill up a form specifying the characteristics of your company, such as the names of partners, the line of business and the capital investment.
The platform will absorb the information and create a document that will then be sent to the Internal Revenue Service, which will issue a taxpayer ID number.
Once you have got hold of the ID number, you can set your business in motion.
Chilean President Sebastián Piñera inaugurated the platform last week. This system has in fact become popular in countries such as New Zealand, Australia, Canada …
Srivastava: At EVS, Brazilians outnumber other foreigners.
By Narayan Ammachchi
Ever wondered why IT and BPO companies in Chile have continued to expand despite what is commonly seen as a severe shortage of skilled workers locally? In Chile, immigration rules are strikingly different than nearby nations like Brazil. IT companies can bring in as many skilled professionals from overseas countries as they want. Jobseekers from across the world are arriving by thousands and filling up the vacant positions in all sectors of the economy.
Outsourcing Buyers See Reason to Question Asia’s Dominance
April 30th, 2013
Porter of Humana points to importance of local firms
By Paul McDougall
It is one thing for investment agencies and Nearshore vendors to promote Latin America sourcing but when buyers start to become vocal champions, it’s a good idea to hear their rationale. “People tend to have a myopic view about outsourcing, we only think about India,” said Anthony Porter, director of IT Vendor Management, Procurement, Legal and Strategy at U.S. health insurance provider Humana.
CGS Expands Operation in Chile With a New Facility
April 25th, 2013By Narayan Ammachchi
US outsourcing firm CGS has added an additional facility to its BPO operations in Chile, saying its workforce would increase 27 percent by the end of this year.
CGS entered Chile in 2012 acquiring contact center firm Prego from the Angellini Group. The new facility takes to four the total number of sites the company is operating in the country.
The new delivery center, in the Chilean capital Santiago, further strengthens the company’s existing contact center operation. “The opening of CGS’s new office in Chile is a natural effect of the strong and rapidly expanding customer base we have in Latin America,” said Phil Friedman, President and CEO of CGS.
The new facility can house 500 new employees, the company stated in a press release.
The US outsourcer stated it is scaling up operation to keep pace with a growing demand for contact center and other BPO services in Latin America. …
Over One Thousand Entrepreneurs Knock on Chile’s Door
April 12th, 2013By Narayan Ammachchi
Organizers of the Start-up Chile say they have received more than 1500 applications from entrepreneurs in 68 countries and will soon select the top 100 best projects for funding.
Start-up Chile is currently in its seventh phase of funding new entrepreneurs and inviting them to Santiago to participate in what has become a symbol of Chile’s embrace of innovation and new ideas. Under the program, the Chilean government will give each entrepreneur US$40,000 in seed funding and a work visa.
Most of the budding entrepreneurs seeking funding are from Chile (37%), the United States (12%), Argentina (8%), Brazil (5%) and India (5%). And the projects that the entrepreneurs are offering to work on are related to social media (17%), e-Commerce (15%), IT and enterprise software (15%) and education (11%).
“The Chilean entrepreneurial ecosystem keeps getting stronger. People from all over the world want to join the entrepreneurial revolution that is …
By Narayan Ammachchi
U.S. online bank PayPal has teamed up with a Latin American payment network to launch a unique payment service called ‘Retiros Multicaja’ in Chile.
PayPal’s partner Multicaja is also a financial services provider, serving more than 50,000 merchants in Chile. “For over two years now, we’ve been growing our footprint in Latin America by opening up local offices in Mexico and Brazil, and by entering into innovative partnerships in countries like Costa Rica,” stated Mario Mello, General Manager, PayPal Latin America, in a press release.
Mello said PayPal can boost the eCommerce industry in Latin America, helping the region widen its participation in global commerce.
The new service will allow Chilean businesspeople to withdraw funds directly from their local bank accounts. With more than 10 million Internet users, Latin America has tremendous potential to become a lucrative eCommerce market, PayPal said.
“We are confident that this important relationship will help …
New Buenos Aires Airport Terminal Doubles Capacity
April 1st, 2013By Narayan Ammachchi
Argentina has added a modern terminal to its Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires. President Cristina Fernandez recently inaugurated the terminal built at a cost of US$111 million.
The new terminal doubles the Airport’s capacity to handle passengers. “It has the capacity to process 4,000 passengers at peak hours and thus meets the immediate and future growth,” stated Airports Argentina 2000, the company that has built the terminal.
The new terminal is considered long overdue, given that passenger traffic reached 24 million in 2012, stated the President. “Our tourism industry is growing. More people are coming from Brazil, Chile and the rest of Americas,” Fernandez said.
More than a thousand people worked for 17 months to construct the terminal, said the President, claiming that the Ezeiza Airport is one of the most modern airports in Latin America.
Chile Outshines Mexico in FDI Inflows in 2012
February 1st, 2013BY STAFF REPORT
Chile has overtaken Mexico to become the second biggest recipient of FDI in Latin America after Brazil. Given an estimation made by UNCTAD, the South American country received US$26,400 million in foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2012.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Chile rose by a record 52.7 percent in 2012, while the inflow dropped in Mexico and Brazil by 16.5 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
“This is great news, reflecting an historic moment for Chile as regards FDI,” said Matías Mori, executive vice-president of the Foreign Investment Committee. “Latin America would be the region in which incoming FDI showed the highest growth in 2012 and, within the region, Chile would have seen the largest increase.”
FDI rose by an average of 7.2% in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to UNCTAD.
Foreign direct invest declined considerably in Europe and the United States, said …
Deutsche Bank Expects Latin America to Contribute More to Global Growth
January 17th, 2013BY STAFF REPORT
Latin America’s contribution to global economic growth will rise to 9 percent this year from 8.4 percent in 2009-11, says Deutsche Bank.
The investment bank has also raised the growth forecast for the region from 2.7 percent last year to 3.5 percent this year, according to a report published by Business News Americas.
Deutsche Bank expects Chile, Colombia and Peru to continue to deliver stable growth, but warns that Brazil’s growth will disappoint unless the government takes more effective steps to boost investment and competitiveness. “As for Argentina and Venezuela, Deutsche Bank is forecasting more of the same in 2013: high inflation, loose policies, political risk and social unrest,” the paper said.
The investment bank is also projecting the region’s GDP growth to accelerate to 3.9% in 2014.
Deutsche Bank expects the U.S. economy to grow at 2 percent …
