The sectors that have traditionally attracted the most foreign capital are those related with natural resources and, most especially, hydrocarbons. Nevertheless there are a great many opportunities for non-oil activities in the country given that investment in this sector accounts for just 2% of the gross domestic product (GDP), according to figures put out by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) for the 1990-2004 period.
Over the past fifteen years a number of opening-up programs have attracted flows of foreign currency into Venezuela. The most popular activities have been manufacturing, telecommunications and banking, and the main investor countries have been the United States, Japan, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Colombia.
A record of investment in the country is kept by the BCV, as part of its balance-of-payments account. This variable is all-inclusive and covers cash or physical assets used for capital increases, funds contributed by parent companies to their subsidiaries, loans and commercial credit, and profits that are reinvested, even if not capitalized.
Additionally, the Superintendency of Banks and other Financial Institutions (Sudeban), the Hydrocarbon Industrialization and Technology Department of the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum (MEP), the Ministry of Basic Industry and Mining (Mibam) and the Insurance Superintendency (Sudeseg) keep records of investments in cash or kind, used for capital increases, in their respective areas of endeavor, regardless of the exact moment when the increase is implemented. For the other sectors of the economy the oversight agency is the Superintendency of Foreign Investments (SIEX).
Foreign direct investment
Over the past fifteen years a number of opening-up programs have attracted flows of foreign currency into Venezuela. The most popular activities have been manufacturing, telecommunications and banking, and the main investor countries have been the United States, Japan, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Colombia.