SANTIAGO, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- Investment projects in Chile's trade sector reached 2.401 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of 2018, representing an increase of 14.77 percent compared with July-December period of last year, the National Chamber of Commerce (CNC) said on Tuesday.
The cadastre, which counts projects in progress and under consideration with values of 3 million dollars or more, included 57 initiatives in the South American country.
During the first six months of this year, there is evidence "of a revitalization in respect to the previous cadastre, following three consecutive periods of decline in trade investment totals," according to the CNC.
However, in terms of year-on-year numbers, this figure also implies "a slight drop" of 3.6 percent compared to the same period in 2017, when the cadastre of trade investments totaled 2.49 billion dollars.
The growth in investment in 2018 corresponds to an acceleration in the start of new projects along with an increase in the amounts earmarked for previous projects, according to the CNC.
In terms of new projects, investments were registered for 206.8 million dollars during the first half of 2018, which represents a year-on-year decline of 12.4 percent.
The CNC said that the new projects equal 8.6 percent of the total cadastre, which means a "marginal" increase in comparison to the previous six month period, but it is still below the historical average of 12.3 percent.
The new projects includes 11 initiatives, with investments that fluctuate between four and 50 million dollars, of which 45 percent of the investments are concentrated in the Santiago Metropolitan Region.
The CNC is an association made up of 23 territorial chambers of commerce throughout the country, 30 specialized associations, 12 chambers of commerce and 17 partner companies.
