- US$1,536.7 million between January-March 2026
Foreign direct investment (FDI) amounted to 1,536.7 million at the end of the first quarter of 2026, an increase of 92.2 million compared to January-March 2026, and a growth of 6.4%, according to the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD).
On Monday, the institution highlighted that more than two-thirds of the flows in FDI (1,046.3 million dollars) correspond to new capital contributions by investors.
“These flows reflect the resilience of the Dominican Republic in attracting FDI, despite the geopolitical tensions and tendencies towards fragmentation indicated by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in its most recent global investment trends monitor,” the BCRD said.
The monetary entity assured that the Dominican Republic attracted this capital thanks to its social harmony, sustained economic and political stability, legal security, tax incentives, modern infrastructures, advanced telecommunications and government support.
The sectors
Half of these currencies went to tourism (22.5%) and energy (22.2%), thus maintaining their dominance.
Mining, supported by higher production and favorable international prices, accounted for 17.8% of the total.
Real estate development – closely related to the growth of tourism in the country – accounted for 14.8% of FDI.
Forecasts
The BCRD expects foreign investment to be around 5,200 million dollars by the end of 2026, despite the downside risks identified by UNCTAD.
The institution points out that, in addition to the increase in FDI flows (6.4%) and remittances (1.9%), the other variables of the external sector also performed favorably between January and March 2026.
Total exports reached 4,194.5 million dollars, increasing by 17.5% compared to the first quarter of 2025.
Among these, gold exports stand out, which reached 738.1 million dollars, an additional 352.5 million (91.4%) in relation to that period, driven by improvements in production and by the historical price levels recorded by gold in international markets.
On the other hand, exports from free zones reached 2,078.4 million dollars, increasing by 4.6% year-on-year.
Likewise, the BCRD highlights that tourism revenues for the first quarter of 2026 totaled 3,909.7 million dollars, about 656.0 million (20.2%) above the revenues of the first quarter of 2025. This result was mainly due to the increase in visitor arrivals during the period, which exceeded 3,350,000.
It should be noted that, according to these preliminary figures, foreign exchange earnings generated from FDI, remittances, tourism, exports of goods and other services, exceeded 13,400 million dollars between January and March 2026, which implies an increase of about 1,400 million dollars compared to the same period in 2025, contributing to the relative stability of the exchange rate.
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