Alicia Barcena (C), executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), speaks during the presentation of a report titled "Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2019" in Santiago, Chile, Aug. 14, 2019. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Latin America and the Caribbean increased by 13.2 percent year on year in 2018, totaling 184.287 billion U.S. dollars and putting an end to five years of declines, a UN agency said on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Jorge Villegas)

SANTIAGO, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Latin America and the Caribbean increased by 13.2 percent year on year in 2018, totaling 184.287 billion U.S. dollars and putting an end to five years of declines, a UN agency said on Wednesday.

These findings were delineated in "Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2019," a report presented by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago, Chile.

"In an international context of a reduction in FDI flows and strong competition for investments, national policies should not be oriented towards returning to the amounts recorded at the start of the decade, but rather towards attracting ever more FDI," the organization's Executive Secretary Alicia Barcena said during the presentation.

The study shows great heterogeneity in national results. Investment inflows increased in 16 countries compared to 2017, whereas in 15 other countries, they declined.

"Most of the growth in FDI in 2018 is due to greater investment in Brazil (88.319 billion dollars, 48 percent of the regional total) and Mexico (36.871 billion dollars, 20 percent of the total)," the document stated.

The two countries are followed by Argentina with 11.873 billion dollars, up by 3.1 percent; Colombia with 11.352 billion U.S. dollars, down by 18 percent; Panama with 6.578 billion dollars, up by 36.3 percent, and Peru, with 6.488 billion dollars, a 5.4 percent decline.

Additionally, the ECLAC report specifies that FDI outflows from Latin American transnational companies declined in 2018 for a fourth straight year, totaling 37.870 billion dollars.

According to the report, the majority of the capital that entered the region came from Europe and the United States.