FDI falls in Mexico

Mexico City, May 24 (IANS/EFE) Mexico received $4.37 billion in foreign direct investment, or FDI, in the first quarter, down 8.7 percent from the same period in 2011, authorities said.

FDI totaled $4.78 billion in the January-March 2011 period, the Economy Secretariat said.

The 2012 figures, which are preliminary and subject to revision, are based on filings by foreign investors with the Economy Secretariat's National Foreign Investment Registry.

Mexico received FDI from 1,820 companies in the first quarter of this year, the secretariat said.

Some 51 percent of the total FDI was from reinvestment of profits, while 27.1 percent was new investment and 21.4 percent came from transfers of accounts between companies.

The sectors that drew the most FDI were manufacturing, with 36.8 percent; financial services and insurance, with 22.1 percent; retailing, with 12.8 percent; real estate services, with 6.8 percent; professional scientific and technical services, with 6.7 percent; transportation, shipping and warehousing, with 5.8 percent; and other sectors, with 9 percent.

The main sources of FDI were the US, with 37.3 percent; Spain, with 28.7 percent; luxembourg, with 9.1 percent; Germany, with 5.7 percent; Japan, with 4.7 percent; and other, which came from 54 countries and accounted for the remaining 14.5 percent, the secretariat said.

FDI hit $19.55 billion in 2011 and totaled $119.38 billion between 2007 and March 31, the Economy Secretariat said.

--IANS/EFE

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