Foreign direct investment in Latin America dived 21 percent in the first half of 2015, a UN commission said Thursday, the latest bad news for a region facing recession this year.

FDI to the region fell to $88.7 billion in the six months through June, said the UN's Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which has warned Latin American economies will contract 0.3 percent this year, in line with IMF forecasts.