SANTIAGO, Chile.- Direct foreign investment (DFI) in Latin America and the Caribbean reached the US$153.4 billion milestone in 2011, or 10 percent of the world total, according to the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Efe reports.

"This amount could be surpassed this year" ECLAC said in its report “Direct foreign Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2011" disclosed by its executive secretary Alicia Barcena.

In 2010 the DFI received by the region was US$120.9 billion, whereas in 2009, under the specter of the international crisis, it reached US$81.59 billion, well below the previous record of US$137.0 billion set in 2008.

Brazil’s US$66.7 billion paced the region’s DFI in 2011, followed by Mexico, with US$19.4 billion, and Chile, US$17.3 billion.

Colombia follows with US$13.2 billion, Peru (7.6 billion), Argentina (7.2 billion), Venezuela (5.3 billion) and Uruguay (2.5 billion). It said the figures for Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay set records.

In the Caribbean ECLAC said investments jumped 20% compared with 2010, led by Dominican Republic’s US$2.4 billion.

"In spite of the uncertainty that still reigns in the global financial markets, the Latin America and Caribbean economies attracted important amounts of direct foreign investment in 2011, amounts which would continue in 2012," said Barcena, who read the report.

The economist cautioned however of another phenomenon which has gathered steam since 2004: the increasing repatriation of earnings by transnational companies that invest in the region. "The DFI income transferred to the countries of origin has been increasing from 20.0 billion dollars annually between 1998 and 2003 to 84.0 billion dollars annually between 2008 and 2010."