Notes from the Ground: South America

New series

In this Investment Week series, Kathleen Gallagher reports on the economic and investment situation in regions across the world bringing together thoughts from experts in the UK fund management industry; conversations with locals and her personal reflections.

From rainforests to deserts, encapsulating 70 UNESCO World Heritage sites and countless ecosystems, South America has much to offer the globe and economy. However, much has and continues to hold them back, making the countries of the continent far from investment darlings over recent years. Looking at the Andean countries (Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela), they have dramatically underperformed the rest of the globe. The MSCI All Country World index ex Andean returned 36.1% from the beginning of 2020 to the end of 2021, according to FE fundinfo. Meanwhile, the MSCI A...