BCR forecasts over $7.2 billion in private investment in 2024 

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By LatAm Reports Staff Writers

Investment is one of the drivers of economic growth, which depends mainly on the private sector.

Investment is one of the drivers of economic growth, which depends mainly on the private sector.

The Central Reserve Bank (BCR) expects entrepreneurs to invest more than $7.2 billion in 2024, while public investment would exceed $791 million.

The investment projection is one of the main engines for the economy in 2024, whose growth will range from 3 percent to 3.5 percent, announced last week the president of the institution, Douglas Rodriguez.

A private investment execution of $7,205 million and a public investment of $791 million is expected, Rodriguez said.

According to the BCR, public and private investment grew by 8 percent at the end of 2023 after surpassing $7,492.52 million, at least an additional $522.49 million compared to 2022.

This indicator, known as gross fixed capital formation, refers to the costs incurred by economic operators (home, companies and government) for the purchase of durable goods in order to expand their activity.

The private sector is the largest resource mobilizer in the economy, with $6.628.41 million at the end of 2023. That figure increased by $342.41 million, by 5.4 percent.

Public investment, meanwhile, reached $864.11 million, with strong growth of 32 percent and equivalent to an additional $210.08 million compared to 2022

The investment has a share of 22.1 % of estimated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2023.

If the BCR projection is met, private investment would grow by $576.59 million, but the public would decrease by $73.11 million

A BCR investigation revealed that the private sector mobilized between 80 % and 90 per cent of El Salvador’s total investment executed over the past three decades

According to the BCR’s historical series, private sector investment rose from $536 million in 1990 to $5.905 million in 2022, with growth of 11 times over the past 32 years.  

This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in Diario El Mundo