Foreign investment in production grows 89% in May
O Estado de S. Paulo
In spite of the crisis and the fall in the profitability of the economy, foreign companies have kept the high volume of resources intended for the projects of the subsidiaries in the Country. In May, the inflow of Dollars for the expansion of plants and construction of new units, the so-called Direct Foreign Investment (DFI), jumped 89% compared to the same month of last year and amounted to US$ 2.48 billion, the best result for a month of May since the beginning of the collection of the data, in 1947. In April, however, the inflow was still greater: US$ 3.4 billion.
The increase of the inflow of productive investments in May was directly influenced by the chemical sector, responsible for the entry of US$ 811 million. And it was followed by the segment of transports which brought in US$ 192 million in new resources; and steel, another US$ 163 million. The data of May were celebrated by the head of the Economic Department of the Central Bank (Depec), Altamir Lopes. According to him, there is an inflow of DFI because the multinational companies are confident in the perspectives of growth of Brazil.
Despite the good news, the FDI accumulated from January to May is 19.7% below that seen in the same period of 2008. Influenced by the crisis, the inflow of funds amounted to US$ 11.23 billion from January to May, compared to US$ 13.98 billion in the same period of last year.