South America: Reform-driven capex and growth

Research evidence excerpt

South America: Reform-driven capex and growth

cts under environmental review

roughly 5% to about 2%. Against that backdrop, President US$bn, as of June 2026

Kast's National Reconstruction and Economic and Social 50

Development Law, commonly known as the RED reform,

represents the most ambitious overhaul of Chile's investment 40

framework in years. The legislation amends 36 laws and 15 30

decrees, combining tax reductions, investment-stability provi-

sions and measures aimed at reducing regulatory uncertainty.

One of its most consequential elements is the creation of 0

compensation mechanisms for projects that receive environ- Mining Energy Other

mental approval only to see those approvals later overturned Source SEIA and J.P. Morgan

by the courts. The provision directly addresses a longstanding

source of uncertainty for investors, particularly in mining and Peru: A deep pipeline

infrastructure. Keiko Fujimori's narrow election victory paves the way for a

decidedly pro-business administration. Unlike Argentina's

Importantly, of the 63 art­icles of the mega-reform (38 per­- RIGI or Chile's RED reform, Peru's story is less about creat-

man­ent and 25 trans­itional), eight of these rules have been ing new incentives than preserving an investment framework

chal­lenged by the oppos­i­tion, related to aquacul­ture con­ces­- that already exists. This matters because the country possess-

sions, envir­on­mental rat­ing pro­ced­ures (includ­ing the right to es one of the region's most comprehensive mining project

com­pens­a­tion for investors) and tax invari­ab­il­ity, which pipelines. The Ministry of Energy and Mines currently lists

would per­haps be the only point of the so-called “heart” that 66 projects worth a combined US$64 billion, heavily concen-

would remain pending.