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Competitiveness: Argentina Improves
Colombia FDI Outlook improves, best cafees in Latin America.
BY LATINVEX STAFF
Argentina improved, while Brazil and Mexico saw declines on the latest competitiveness ranking from Swiss-based business school IMD.
The ranking looks at economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure, using external hard data and the results of a home-grown survey of senior executives in 69 global economies, including seven Latin American countries.
Argentina moved up four spots to 58th place and now ranks ahead of Brazil and Mexico. The improvement comes after it also moved up four spots a year earlier.
Mexico fell seven spots to 62nd place.
Brazil also fell seven spots and now ranks 65th place.
Chile remains the most competitive among the seven Latin American countries included in the ranking, while Venezuela the least. Chile declined one spot globally to 43nd place, but still ranks ahead of such European countries like Italy and Greece.
Meanwhile, Venezuela moved down one spot to 70th place, the last place on the ranking.
In other results, Colombia fell five spots to 59th place, while Peru remained in 60th place.
COLOMBIA: MORE FDI EXPECTED WITH DE LA ESPRIELLA
The election of Abelardo de la Espriella and, notably, his Vice President José Manuel Restrepo, should mark the return of capital into Colombia due to more visibility on security, sound fiscal and investment policies, and a renewed relationship with the United States that could bolster security and curb instability, argues Kristie Pellecchia Loiacono, who served as a member of the Atlantic Council’s US-Colombia Task Force and is the founder and a principal at Pellecchia International.
“The Petro administration’s persistent deficits, public spending, suspension of the fiscal rule, tax-revenue shortfalls, proposed reforms to stable systems including healthcare and pensions, permissive policies that allowed coca production to skyrocket and empowered narco-terrorists, and weakened security gave investors serious pause,” Pellecchia said in an Atlantic Council overview. “Petro’s abrupt changes to oil and gas production, a major source of tax revenue, confused investors and exacerbated fiscal challenges.”
As a result, Colombian foreign direct investment dropped consistently under Petro, and by 2025 was down 33 percent from 2022, she points out.
LATIN AMERICA’S BEST CAFES
Alquimia Coffee in El Salvador’s capital San Salvador has been ranked as the best coffee shop in Latin America and third worldwide by The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops.
“Alquimia Coffee is a world-class specialty coffee shop and roastery in El Salvador, founded by Federico Bolaños, the most successful coach in the history of the World Barista Championship,” the company behind the ranking said.
Tropicalia Coffee in Bogota, Colombia.
Other Latin American coffee shops that made the top 100 include Tropicalia Coffee in Bogota, Colombia (9th place); Fankør in Quito, Ecuador (11th place); Kafi Wasi Café Tostaduría in Arequipa, Peru (17th place); Holaste! Specialty Coffee in Natales, Chile (21st place); Monotono Specialty Coffee in Lima, Peru (23rd place) and El Injerto in Guatemala City, Guatemala (25th place).
The top 100 ranking also includes cafes from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
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