LatinNews Daily - 19 March 2026

*Nicaragua’s central bank (BCN) has released new figures showing that net foreign direct investment (FDI) to the country totalled US$1.50bn in 2025, up 7.6% on 2024. Meanwhile gross FDI came to US$3.06bn, down 4.0% on the same period in 2024. According to the BCN report, net FDI flows represented 6.8% of GDP (down from 7.1% in 2024) while net flows stood at 6.8% of GDP (down from 7.1% in 2024). As regards a breakdown by sector, manufacturing received US$472.0m (31.4% of the total), up 11.0% on 2024; energy and mining received US$466.5m (31.1% of the total), up 77.1%; and financial intermediation totalled US$375.6m (25.0% of the total), up 32.9% on 2024. As regards sources of net FDI, Panama accounted for 25.5% of the total followed by Barbados (17.5%) and the US (13.1%). BCN figures released the previous day showed the country’s GDP grew 4.9% in 2025, up from 3.6% in 2024. The BCN figures showed growth was driven by construction (+17.3%), trade (+9.3%), hotels and restaurants (+8.0%), and mining and quarrying (+7.4%). The sectors that posted a fall in activity were: fishing and aquiculture (-10.2%), electricity (-5.6%), public administration and defence (-3.4%), and agriculture (-2.9%).

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