Thailand’s real estate and construction sector accounted for 8.8% of the country’s GDP in 2017. The real estate sector alone reported GVA of THB 964bn, while the construction sector posted GVA of 399bn in 2017. Real estate and construction together employed 2.36mn persons in 2017, and accounted for 6.3% of total employment in Thailand in that year. Infrastructure construction in particular hinges on public spending and is susceptible to associated risks such as project delays or budget cuts. Property construction is dominated by the housing segment, which in turn is mostly driven by condominium construction, catering to Thailand’s urbanising middle class. The high household debt of Thais is a major challenge for prospective home buyers. That excluded, the sector generally expects bright prospects for the future, reflecting Thailand’s strengthening position as a regional investment hub.

Agriculture is one of the key economic sectors of Mexico, accounting for 3.4% of the country’s GDP, 13.4% of formal employment and 4.6% of national exports in 2017. Moreover, the sector was one of the main driving forces of the economy in 2017, with GVA rising by 3.4% y/y, well above the overall GDP growth of 2%, supported by both strong domestic demand and rising exports. The country ranks among the world’s top ten producers of a variety of crops, livestock and fishery products, including maize, lemons, oranges, pork, beef, poultry meat, octopus, tuna, shrimp and sardines. Nevertheless, the extent of agriculture’s exposure to the US – which absorbed about 80% of its exports in 2017 – remains one of the main causes for concern, in view of the ongoing renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Mexico and Canada.

The Indian real estate industry, which currently accounts for 5.2% of the Asia-Pacific real estate market and 5-6% of India’s GDP, has a huge multiplier effect on the economy, and is poised to account for around 13% of GDP by 2028. It is the second-largest employer (after agriculture) and is expected to grow by 30% over the next decade. In terms of inward FDI, construction is the fourth-largest sector and is projected to receive USD 25bn by FY2022. Due to the short-term disruptive effects of changes in real estate laws and other policy changes, the real estate industry witnessed a considerable slowdown in 2017. However, in 2018, this industry is experiencing a gradual recovery, which is expected to gain traction in the second half of the calendar year, as the Indian economy continues to expand – driven by the strong performance of the manufacturing and services sectors.

India’s infrastructure sector grew exponentially between FY2013 and FY2017, primarily due to the government’s focus on sector development. The infrastructure sector struggles with complex regulations that the government has recently tried to ease while engaging private companies in PPP projects, perceived as less capital-intensive compared to projects carried out by single players. According to theGlobal Competitiveness Report 2017-2018 published by WEF, India has moved up by 40 positions from 2012 to its current ranking of 46 in 2018 in infrastructure quality. Strong pipeline projects in the infrastructure sector, significant investment from international companies, and the large size of the Indian market provide a strong base for sector growth.

The retail sector has been one of the driving forces of the Indian economy, expanding its value added at a CAGR of 11% over FY2013-2017, driven by positive demographic trends, ongoing urbanisation and an increasing middle class population, rapidly adopting a consumerist lifestyle. In FY2017, the trade sector accounted for 9.5% of the country’s GDP, 5.4% of total FDI and around 8% of national employment. However, organised trade remains at a nascent stage of development, which, given expectations for a robust increase in consumer spending, anticipates a huge growth trajectory facing the retail market. Indeed, it is set to nearly double to USD 1.1tn by FY2020, up from USD 672bn in FY2016, according to India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) projections. In 2017, A.T. Kearney ranked India as the world’s most attractive developing country for retail investment, based on its impressive market size, low saturation levels and moderate economic and political risks.

India is the second-largest producer and consumer of cement in the world after China, with 451mn tonnes per year (tpa) of cement production capacity as of March 31, 2018. India’s cement production is mostly dependent on residential and infrastructure construction, both of which are the subject of much investor interest. The industry is structured in unevenly distributed clusters, located close to raw material deposits of limestone and fly ash. Many cement manufacturers operate their own wind farms or thermal generation capacity units to insulate themselves from possible energy supply failure. Over the years, most thermal coal supply has shifted to the electricity generation sector, making cement manufacturers resort to petcoke. The latter, in turn, is known for its high carbon footprint and its use has, on multiple occasions, been subject to severe restriction by the authorities.

The performance of the Colombian transportation sector is closely linked to the country’s overall economic performance. In 2016 and 2017 the GVA of the sector remained almost flat following the slowdown of economic activity in the country. Despite this deceleration, Colombia managed to improve the quality of its transport infrastructure compared to international standards, and ranked 15 positions higher in the 2017-2018 issue of the Global Competitiveness Report in terms of quality overall infrastructure, than it did in the 2016-2017 study. However, the sector continues to face structural constraints, mainly linked to the dominance of road transportation, resulting in high logistics costs, low capacity of domestic airports and inadequate quality of the railway network, due to which about half of the country’s available routes are not operational.

Construction is the sixth-largest economic sector in Colombia, accounting for 6.8% of the country’s GDP, 3% of total FDI inflow and 6.3% of formal employment in 2017. Over the 2012-2016 period, the construction sector emerged as one of the main driving forces of the Colombian economy, expanding its GVA at a strong CAGR of 5.4%, favoured by high government spending on transport infrastructure, the launch of social housing programmes and robust demand for modern office and logistics buildings. Nevertheless, in 2017, the sector entered into a correction, due to the overall economic slowdown, a decrease in the purchasing power of households and high borrowing costs. However, construction activity is set to pick up in 2018 in line with the acceleration of the economy, an enhanced regulatory framework, and renewed interest of investors towards large infrastructure projects in the country implemented under the 4G programme.

Between 2008 and 2017, Brazil’s oil output expanded at a strong CAGR of 4.2%, outperforming most of the top ten largest crude producers in the world. As a result, in 2017, the country ranked 10th globally in terms of production volume with a 3% share in the world’s total output. Since 2014, the oil and gas sector has been going through a deep restructuring process, prompted by corruption investigations that led to the arrest of former executives at the state-run energy giant Petrobras and high profile local politicians and businessmen and ended with the impeachment of president Dilma Rousseff in August 2016 and the imprisonment of former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in April 2018. Lula was found guilty of corruption and money laundering and is currently serving a 12-year sentence.

With an output of 34.4mn tonnes, Brazil was the world’s ninth-largest crude steel manufacturer and its fifth-biggest net steel exporter in 2017. The country also plays a central role in the global nonferrous metals processing sector, being the largest primary aluminium producer in Latin America (ninth in the world), the fourth-biggest refined copper manufacturer in Latin America (24th globally), and the undisputed global leader in terms of recycling of aluminium packaging, having reprocessed more than 97% of all aluminium cans sold between 2010 and 2016.