🇦🇷 Argentina · 2026 edition
Investing in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ranks 2 of 13 Latin American cities on the ProLatam Data Index with 52.8 of 100, and 1 of 13 on the ProLatam Score. Its strongest pillar is english proficiency (78), its weakest is innovation (36). A foreign shareholder pays 39.60% in total on repatriated profit.
ProLatam Data Index
52.8
Rank 2 of 13, balanced weighting
ProLatam Score
50.3
Rank 1 of 13, market-entry weighting
Strongest pillar
English Proficiency
78 of 100
Weakest pillar
Innovation
36 of 100
How Buenos Aires scores on each pillar
Eight pillars, each normalized to 0 to 100 by a fixed published rule. A dash means the source does not cover Buenos Aires, which is not the same as a zero. Coverage of the weighted index for this city is 100%.
Swipe the table sideways for the reported value, the weights and the source.
What a foreign shareholder pays in Argentina
Corporate income tax plus the standard non-treaty withholding on the dividend paid out of what is left, which is the figure that actually reaches an owner abroad.
Total on repatriated profit
39.60%
Corporate income tax
35.0%
Dividend withholding
7.0%
Standard non-treaty rate
Compliance hours per year
311.5
World Bank Paying Taxes, 2018 data
Argentina taxes on a worldwide basis, so worldwide income is in scope. Headline burden is misleading in both directions. Turnover and financial transaction taxes pushed the total tax and contribution rate to 106.3% of commercial profit in the last Paying Taxes measurement. Against that, the RIGI large-investment regime caps corporate tax at 25% with 7% on dividends falling to 3.5%, plus 30 years of tax, customs and currency stability; the adhesion window runs to July 2027 and the entry floor is USD 200m.
Context, published but not scored
These shape a decision without belonging in the index. FDI inflows track the size of an economy rather than the appeal of a city, and a sovereign rating measures a government's ability to repay debt rather than a company's ability to operate.
GDP growth 2026
3.5%
IMF World Economic Outlook, national
FDI inflows
$3.1B
National, latest published year
Sovereign rating
B- (Stable)
Long-term foreign currency
English proficiency
594 (High)
EF EPI city score, 1 to 800
Where Argentina has moved since 2021
The rule of law pillar is the only one of the eight with a series comparable across five editions, so it is the only place this profile shows a direction rather than a snapshot. Scores are national, 0 to 1, higher is better.
2021
0.558
2022
0.549
2023
0.546
2024
0.546
2025
0.540
Over the period Argentina weakened, -0.018 points. A move under 0.005 is reported as flat rather than as a trend. Compare all 10 economies.
Sectors with a documented presence
Knowledge Economy
Argentina’s knowledge-economy service exports hit a record USD 9,600 M in 2025, up 8.1%, with the City of Buenos Aires accounting for 61.98% and the sector employing over 285,000 formal workers.
SourceTechnology Districts
The Parque Patricios technology district hosts 312 companies and more than 23,000 jobs; in March 2026 the city announced an AI District in the Microcentro with gross-income, stamp and construction tax exemptions.
SourceWhere Argentina's inbound FDI comes from
National statistics, share of inbound foreign direct investment.
- United States18.0%
- Spain14.0%
- Netherlands12.0%
- Other56.0%
BCRA, gross FDI liability position at 31 December 2025. Argentina recorded net FDI outflows of about USD 4.7 bn that year.
Citing the Buenos Aires figures
Published under CC BY 4.0. Reuse is welcome, including commercially, with credit and a link.
Pro Latam. (2026). ProLatam Latin American City Investment Index 2026 (Version 2026.4) [Data set]. https://invest.pro-latam.orgSource: Pro Latam Investment Hub, ProLatam Data Index 2026 (https://invest.pro-latam.org). Updated 2026-09-04.
Considering Buenos Aires for a market entry?
Pro Latam has been placing international companies in Latin America since 2010. The ranking is the public part of the work, and the rest is the part that depends on what you are actually trying to build.