This is confirmed in the latest report of the consulting firm MC&F and IFEL, which shows that from January to November 2025. Investment alternatives nominated in soles performed best with an average gain of 5.9%. On the other hand, dollar options reported an average loss of 4.5%.
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Javier Gamboa, vice president of strategy and portfolio management at Rimac Seguros y Reaseguros, mentioned to Gestión that the “ordinary” Peruvian investor who invested in dollars this year suffered in the short term because his recurring expenses were in the local currency.
“Any dollar instrument that returned less than 11% created a negative return in soles”– he declared.
Investors in general are looking to the dollar as a way to diversify, but particularly among Peruvians to protect themselves against an eventual devaluation of their currency, as the country has suffered from periods of hyperinflation in the past.
“The strongest currency in the world is the dollar, so most of the savings in the world are in this currency”said Jorge Ramos, Fibra Prime’s Chief Capital Markets and Investor Relations Officer.
This year is characterized by a fall in the dollar rate. (Photo: Jacob Wackerhausen/iStock)
Horizon
Both Ramos and Gamboa agreed that in the long term it makes sense to keep at least part of the portfolio in dollars, as the dollar has historically shown stability despite short-term fluctuations and setbacks like this year.
For his part, Marco Contreras, Head of Research at Kallpa SAB, clarified that the loss of investments in dollars materializes only when there is a need for immediate liquidity.
“(Losses are created only when (man) eliminates and alters soles”said.
But if a person keeps their investments in dollars, they have depreciated by an average of 4.5% so far, according to MC&F and IFEL.
Inflation
Through November, financial instruments analyzed by MC&F and IFEL reported average losses of 0.5%. Moreover, 44.7% of alternatives recorded returns above accumulated inflation (1.1% during the analysis period).
The above report calculates the returns of all investment products in soles so that they can be compared (with those denominated in dollars).
At the end of November, the dollar fell against the sun by 10.5%, percentage fluctuation that remains to date, according to the BCRP.
A large number of investment options locally are denominated in dollars, such as mutual funds, in which they account for 70%.
Lime bag
According to the consulting firm, when analyzed separately by instruments, the three best performers for the year are linked to the Lima Stock Exchange (LSE).
The alternative that gained the most (36.7% from January to November) was the ETF (from Van Eck El Dorado), which mainly invests in instruments with the same characteristics or virtually identical to stocks listed on the BVL.
It is followed by the General Index and the Select Lima Market Index with returns of 34.6% and 29.5% in each case over the period of analysis.
Ramos explained that with the reduction of the base interest rate of the US Fed, downward pressure is created on the dollar in relation to other currencies. In turn, this pushes up commodity prices, fueling a mining equity market like the one in Lima.
In addition, with falling rates in the US, investors are looking for other markets in the world where they can make their capital profitable, including Peru.
Jerome Powell, president of the Fed, the organization responsible for making decisions on interest rate cuts in the United States. (Photo: Freepik Design)
Mutual funds
Moose mutual funds posted an average loss of 1.1% this year. However, this category shows a significant dispersion of results, ranging from -24.8% to 26.8%.
The mutual fund that performed the most (26.8%) was one that invests in Latin American stocks.
As of December 15, the Lima stock market continued to accumulate growth, the overall index increased by 44.11% for the year.
The second best-performing mutual fund was one that bets on BVL-listed stocks.
The above is in line with the gains seen in the region’s stock markets. Between January and November 2025, markets in Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil reported growth of 50.95%, 50.28%, 32.83%, and 32.25%, respectively.
In contrast, mutual funds with the largest losses correspond to complex products that invest in structured notes, for example, or that target institutional investors. Also, they have as a common denominator that they are dollar alternatives.
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Accountability in the financial system
Deposits in soles in financial institutions had an average return of 3.5% from January to November of this year. According to MC&F and IFEL, accounts in the soles of financial companies showed the highest profitability (4.8% on average), followed by municipal savings banks (3.8%) and banks (3.2%).
On the contrary, dollar deposits gave a negative return of 7.9% on average.
“If (instead of going to a term deposit) you invested in the US stock market, you would have a solarized return of 5% (or more), at least no longer negative”said Javier Gamboa of Rimac Seguros.
Analysts consulted agreed that this has been a good year for equities (equities), in general, i.e. risk assets, due to lower interest rates.
At the end of November, the S&P 500 was up 17.81% for the year. So a few months ago, Wall Street overcame a slump caused by Donald Trump’s announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs.
As seen in the table below, the options that lost the most for the year were: SF Structured Note
MC&F November 2025
