Portfolio Update

BLACKROCK LATIN AMERICAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

All information is at 31 January 2009 and unaudited.

Performance at month end is calculated with net income reinvested

                           One   Three       One     *Since      Three      Five     
                         Month  Months      Year   31.03.06      Years     Years    
Sterling:                                                                      
                                                                               
Net asset value           -1.5%   5.9%    -38.0%      -9.5%      -7.6%    103.3%   
Share price                7.1%  19.2%    -34.3%      -6.6%       2.0%    157.6%   
MSCI EM Latin American    -0.5%   7.9%    -28.5%       9.3%      10.4%    176.5% 
                                                                             
US Dollars:                                                                    
                                                                               
Net asset value          -1.3%   -5.5%    -55.0%     -24.8%     -25.1%     61.0%    
MSCI EM Latin American   -0.2%   -3.7%    -48.2%      -9.2%     -10.5%    119.0% 
                                                                               
Sources: BlackRock, Standard & Poor's Micropal                                 
*Date which BlackRock took over the investment management of the Company.      

At month end                                                              
                                                                          
Net asset value - capital only:                                  309.98p  
Net asset value** - cum income:                                  319.31p  
Share price:                                                     316.00p  
Total assets^:                                                  £160.01m  
Premium (share price to capital only NAV):                          1.9%  
Gearing:                                                            4.1%  
Net yield:                                                         1.54%  
Ordinary shares in issue^^:                                   47,389,753  
                                                                          
**Includes 13 months net revenue equal to 9.33p after provision for the   
interim dividend of 2.5 cents (1.4212p) per share.                        
^Total assets include current year revenue.                               
^^Excluding 400,000 shares held in treasury.                              

Geographical Regional Exposure                            % Total Assets
                                                                               
Brazil                                                              74.7
Mexico                                                              19.2
Chile                                                                3.8
Peru                                                                 2.6
Argentina                                                            1.5
Panama                                                               0.6
Net current liabilities                                             (2.4)
                                                                   -----
Total                                                              100.0
                                                                   -----

Ten Largest Equity Investments(in alphabetical order)                          

Company                                Country of Risk                         
                                                                               
AmBev                                  Brazil                                  
America Movil                          Mexico                                  
Banco Bradesco                         Brazil                                  
Banco Itau                             Brazil                                  
CVRD                                   Brazil                                  
Grupo Televisa                         Mexico                                  
Net Servicos                           Brazil                                  
Petrobras                              Brazil                                  
Unibanco                               Brazil                                  
Usiminas                               Brazil                                  

Commenting on the markets, Will Landers, representing the investment
Manager noted;

Performance

For the month of January 2009, the Company posted a -1.5% decline in its NAV
while its share price appreciated 7.1% (all in sterling terms). This compares
with the -0.5% decline posted by the Company's benchmark, the MSCI EM Latin
America Index.

January's underperformance was mostly related to negative stock selection in
Brazil, where our underweight position in outperformer Petrobras was the
largest detractor from performance. Overall, we benefited from positive
allocation effect given our overweight position in Brazil and underweight
position in Mexico, with the underweight position in Chile costing a few basis
points of performance.

Transactions/Gearing

During the first month of the year, we took some profits out of stocks in
Brazil that had been outperforming since late November, especially in the steel
and mining sectors, reducing our underweight position in Mexico by increasing
our overweight position in wireless providers and broadcasters (which had
underperformed in the same period). Within Brazil, we increased our exposure to
financials, retailers and transportation stocks, reducing the aforementioned
holdings in metals and mining, while in Mexico we took some profits from
consumer staples and financials. Gearing was relatively unchanged during the
month in absolute terms, remaining at close to 5% of net assets before ending
the month at 4.1%.

Positioning

The portfolio continues to be positioned to benefit from more constructive
market conditions, where market and company fundamentals become once again the
drivers for performance. Brazil remains our largest overweight position,
accounting for over 71% of assets at month-end. The Central Bank started its
easing cycle with a strong 100 bps rate cut to 12.75%, has established
financing lines for Brazilian companies that may have difficulty accessing
international markets to rollover dollar debt, and continues to have plenty of
ammunition to provide stability to the currency and create the base for a
Brazilian economic recovery starting at some point this year. Equity valuations
continue to look attractive despite relative outperformance in the past two
months. We have reduced our underweight position in Mexico as valuation levels
finally reached levels that we found interesting. Mexico undoubtedly has bigger
challenges to face in the next 12-24 months than most other Latin American
countries, but we have been adding to positions that we believe will outperform
the overall Latin American market over the next year. Chile and Peru remained
relatively unchanged during the month.

Latest information is available by typing www.blackrock.co.uk/its on the
internet, "BLRKINDEX" on Reuters, "BLRK" on Bloomberg or "8800" on Topic 3 (ICV
terminal).

24 February 2009