Foreign Direct Investment, Debits

Foreign Direct Investment, Debits captures the outflows of cross-border investment in which residents acquire a lasting interest — typically 10% or more of voting power — in enterprises abroad. These flows are recorded in the financial account of the balance of payments. This Latin Macro Watch indicator from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) helps researchers, investors and policymakers track outbound direct investment from Latin America and the Caribbean. Figures are presented as net acquisition of assets ('Activos') on a BPM6 basis.

Coverage

The indicator covers 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean at annual, monthly and quarterly frequency, spanning 1994–2026. Values are available in millions of USD, as a share of GDP and on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. Transformations include 3-, 6- and 12-month moving averages (MA3, MA6, MA12) and month-over-month, quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year percentage changes (MoM %, QoQ %, YoY %).

Sources

Data are compiled from national central banks and statistical agencies, including the Banco Central do Brasil, the Banco de Mexico (Banxico), the Banco de la República de Colombia, the Banco de Guatemala and INDEC - Argentina, then standardized by the IDB for cross-country comparison within the Latin Macro Watch database.

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Format	CSV
Language	en
Country	Argentina Bahamas Trinidad & Tobago Belize Costa Rica Dominican Republic Ecuador Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia El Salvador Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Panama Uruguay Venezuela Barbados Paraguay Peru Suriname
Data notes	What does Foreign Direct Investment, Debits measure? It measures outflows of cross-border investment in which residents acquire a lasting interest — typically 10% or more of voting power — in enterprises abroad, recorded in the financial account of the balance of payments as net acquisition of assets on a BPM6 basis. How many countries and which frequencies and period are covered? The indicator covers 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean at annual, monthly and quarterly frequency, spanning 1994 to 2026. What units and transformations are available? Values are available in millions of USD, as a percentage of GDP and on a year-to-date (YTD) basis. Transformations include MA3, MA6 and MA12 moving averages and MoM %, QoQ % and YoY % changes. Where does the data come from? Data are sourced from national central banks and statistical agencies such as the Banco Central do Brasil, the Banco de Mexico (Banxico), the Banco de la República de Colombia, the Banco de Guatemala and INDEC - Argentina, then standardized by the IDB. What is this indicator typically used for? It is used to analyze outbound investment, the international expansion of domestic firms and the external financial position of economies across Latin America and the Caribbean, often alongside FDI credits and net FDI. How do I cite this indicator? Cite it as: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Latin Macro Watch — "Foreign Direct Investment, Debits". data.iadb.org/dataset/latin-macro-watch-dataset.