Best countries in Latin America for investment

by philg

I met a money guy today at a party here in D.C. As part of the trend of the financial center in the U.S. shifting towards Washington, D.C., his private equity fund is based here. He concentrates on Latin America. Where did he think the best opportunities for investment were? “Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and Chile,” was the response. “Avoid Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia due to political risk.” What about the political risk in his favorite countries? “A lot of Latin American governments are in better shape and more fiscally responsible than the U.S. government.”

4 thoughts on “Best countries in Latin America for investment”

  1. I’m surprised he includes Colombia and excludes Ecuador. I was under the impression that Ecuador was in better shape than Colombia. Mainly because I’ve been to Ecuador and Ecuador is a safer place to travel than Colombia, which has problems stemming from the drug trade (Colombia produces slightly more than two-thirds of the worldwide cocaine crop) and the long running conflict between the government and the FARC. Though Ecuador does have some bone-headed economic policies. They have severe import tariffs on electronics for example “to help the poor”. But as far as I can tell, all it does is line the pockets of the rich and well-connected while depriving the poor of electronics they otherwise might be able to buy.

  2. As someone who is involved in private equity, I’m very interested in knowing
    how DC is trending towards becoming the “financial center”.
    Several friends of mine will be confused when I relay this to
    them Monday.
    Or is this in comedic reference to the Fed bailouts?

  3. I wonder why he skipped Uruguay? Uruguay’s wikipedia entry seems to suggest that, politically at least, it should be attractive to investment.

  4. Francine: When I expressed surprise that a large private equity firm was based in Washington, D.C., he said that a lot of people in his firm had previously worked at the World Bank or similar organizations. His company also has local offices in a lot of Latin American nations. A quick Google search brought up
    http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/01/12/frum.washington.financial.capital/index.html

    [And remember that I said that the financial center was moving towards Washington, D.C., not to Washington, D.C.]

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