The El Salvadorian foreign investment agency, Promoting Investment in El Salvador (Proesa), has announced that it has secured $500m of FDI in the past 24 months.

“Despite a worldwide economic slowdown, El Salvador’s excellent business incentives, dollarised economy, strategic location and productive labour force are winning it the attention of the world’s most important companies,” said Carlos Schmidt, vice-president of El Salvador and head of Proesia.

The biggest growth has come in the fields of agribusiness, call centres, electronics, manufacturing, and textiles and clothing. Currently, foreign investment is responsible for more than 15% of the country’s total employment.

Heading the list of foreign investors that have launched or expanded their operations in El Salvador in the past two years is the beverage producer South African Brewery Miller plc (SAB). One year ago SAB formed BevCo with a prominent local consortium, which owns the leading conglomerate in El Salvador with wide ranging commercial interests throughout Central America.

In the power sector, the Italian electric company ENEL Green Power increased its stock participation in the national Geothermal company (GESAL) and invested in a geothermic plant with a combined total investment of $36m.

In the agribusiness sector, Grupo Calvo, one of the top five tuna producers in Europe, is constructing a new plant in the eastern Salvadorian city of Punta Gorda at a cost of $41m. This will be the largest tuna plant in the Americas and will provide 700 jobs.

The improvement in El Salvador’s FDI comes at a time when the country is vigorously promoting its competitive advantages. In July, the country launched its first-ever promotional campaign in the US, called “EL Salvador works”, to attract FDI.