Chinese investment in Brazil hits 13-year low after economic slowdown, regulatory hurdles: report
- Beijing’s shift in strategy behind 78 per cent reduction and Argentina edging the Latin American giant for first time, but carmakers among the bullish
- Cooling sentiment towards China also cited as country faces low liquidity in domestic economy and ‘urgent need to balance provincial debt’
Beijing’s outlay in 2022 plummeted to a 13-year low of US$1.3 billion, pushing the country to ninth globally in Chinese foreign investment, according to findings published on Tuesday by the non-profit China-Brazil Business Council (CBBC).
Experts pointed to multiple factors for the nearly 78 per cent reduction.
In mining investments, totalling an estimated US$2 billion, requirements for environmental impact assessments translated into a lack of permits to carry out projects, thus contributing to the decline, said Tulio Cariello of CBBC.
Nevertheless, Chinese enthusiasm for various sectors of Brazil’s economy stayed robust, as reflected in the number of projects announced last year, a record 32 since the CBBC began monitoring such statistics in 2007.
Cariello said no “very large investments” had been confirmed, partly because state-owned enterprises “that normally inflate the numbers a lot” like State Grid Corporation of China and the China Three Gorges Corporation did not make significant contributions in 2022.
