The effects of the commodities prices fluctuation on the foreign direct investment flow in Brazil

Abstract

Given the commodities predominance on Brazilian exports, this research examined the relationship between the international prices of commodities and foreign investment inflow, which is the main funding source of the structural current account deficit. Based on the new development economics axiom, which holds that the foreign investment inflow depends on the external debt/exports ratio, a model was developed where this risk measure is a function of the international prices of commodities and the exchange rate (dollar/real). The savings substitution rate was employed as a dummy variable in the model. The results demonstrated that international prices have a significantly negative relationship with the risk measure, which is evidence of the relevance of the primary goods in funding the current account and, consequently, the balance of payments.