Investors and big multinationals are tuning into the largest and fastest emerging market on the planet.
Latin America has always been an exciting region to visit or live, but now it’s the place to be for new and expanding business. A Deloitte report in 2011 said the number of millionaire households in Brazil should reach 1 million by 2020. Goldman Sachs forecasts that Brazil and Mexico will be solidly placed within the world’s six largest economies by 2050. And as important is the statistics that show that by 2050 the United States, because of raising birth rates the Latino population will be so integrated the Spanish language will dueling English for predominance. The influence of Latin America is being felt everywhere from products and service to multinational expansion, making the future Latin America.
Latin America has spent the last decade transforming itself into a global economic power block growing into one of the strongest growing regions in the world. The region shows an Annual GDP growth averaging almost 4% and Brazil’s is now the sixth largest economy in the world.
The region is creating an extraordinary opportunities for investors, as expected, with such a vast emerging market. Foreign direct investments are reaching all time highs, natural resources of oil, gas, as well, precious and rare earth metals and minerals are all coming online. Experts now estimate Latin America may hold up to one fifth of the planets oil reserves.
Middle classes are exploding across the entire Latin region – with over 50% of all citizens in Latin America reaching middle class status. Governments and central banks are shifting monetary strategies to capitalize and go forward, generating domestic, investment and significantly increasing consumption of consumer goods and services.
This middle class growth has stimulated education, health, demand, expectation, innovation and is the primary engine behind Latin America’s soaring development.
All of this middle class growth is creating a huge demand for consumer electronics, clothing and consumer durables. With Latin consumer confidence topping Europe and US confidence levels (up to 40% higher consumer confidence) and Brazil reaching the fifth highest score on the CCI (Consumer Confidence Index), the region is now strong and confident as their products and service output are now having an effect on China manufacturing and export markets as more and more mufti-nationals manufacturers, producers and distributors are shifting their attention from Asia to Latin America. Brazil one of the most explosive and attractive emerging markets for retailers is followed by Uruguay and are both rated ahead of China.
Job growth throughout the region is also booming, such as Brazil, reported CNN Money reported “In 2011, the number of legal foreign workers jumped 57% to 1.51 million, according to the Justice Ministry.” (http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/30/news/economy/brazil-jobs/index.htm ).
This explosion in opening markets is causing a growing demand for retailing. Chile and Peru have recently been placed in the Top 10 on the Global Retail Development Index.
Colombia is also becoming and investment beacon. Driven by domestic demand and a strong commodity export performance in 2011, Colombia’s economy continues to grow steadily since the country’s foreign currency rating was upgraded. Exploration is yielding impressive numbers in several of Colombia’s natural resources. Experts are seeing a strong economic growth for Colombia over the coming decade.
Real estate growth, especially in Central America continued to be attractive as more high net worth individuals and real estate investors see much more value for their money.
Overall, this massive emerging region now sees its own potential and has caught the eyes of the investment market.
Strong economic policies throughout the region, massive resources, booming middle class, manufacturing, retail, demand, consumption and production, has created significant opportunity for investors across the board, for small to multinationals, Latin America is seen as the place to for delivering investor returns.
The Costa Rica News (TCRN) will be shinning more light on the Latin American emerging markets with ongoing research, interviews, and a series of articles. For more information on this topic, contact TCRN Business Support Team.
