Portfolio Update

Merrill Lynch Latin Amer Inv. Trust
17 October 2006

MERRILL LYNCH LATIN AMERICAN INVESTMENT TRUST PLC

All information is at 30 September 2006 and unaudited.

Performance at month end is calculated with net income reinvested
                                            One          Three              One           Three            Five
                                         Month         Months              Year           Years           Years
Sterling:
Net asset value                            2.2%           5.4%            14.0%          142.5%          183.1%
Share price                                1.4%           5.5%            27.5%          202.0%          282.3%
MSCI EM Latin American                     2.6%           3.8%            15.2%          171.9%          220.4%
US Dollars:
Net asset value                            0.8%           7.0%            21.1%          174.0%          259.5%
MSCI EM Latin American                     0.8%           4.8%            21.7%          205.7%          307.3%

Sources:  BlackRock Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Standard & Poor's
Micropal.
At month end
Net asset value*:                           334.12p
Share price:                                320.00p
Total assets:                               £195.0m
Discount:                                      4.2%
Gearing:                                       5.8%
Net yield:                                     1.5%
Ordinary shares in issue:                   55,608,059
*includes 9 months net revenue equal to 2.75p (after interim dividend paid of 1.31p (2.5 cents)).


Geographical Regional Exposure                              % of Total Assets
Brazil                                                            54.1
Mexico                                                            25.9
Chile                                                              4.6
Argentina                                                          3.2
Colombia                                                           0.6
Panama                                                             0.5
Net current assets                                                11.1
                                                                  -----
Total                                                            100.0
                                                                  -----




Ten Largest Equity Investments (in alphabetical order)
Company                                                               Country of Risk
AmBev                                                                 Brazil
America Movil                                                         Mexico
Banco Bradesco                                                        Brazil
Corporacion GEO                                                       Mexico
CVRD                                                                  Brazil
Grupo Televisa                                                        Mexico
Petrobras                                                             Brazil
Tenaris                                                               Argentina
Unibanco                                                              Brazil
Walmart de Mexico (Walmex)                                            Mexico




Commenting on the markets, Will Landers, representing the Investment Manager
noted:



Performance

For the month of September 2006, the Company posted a 0.8% increase in its NAV
and a 0.4% decline for its shares (all in USD terms).  The NAV's performance was
in line with the 0.8% increase for its benchmark, the MSCI EM Latin America Free
Index.  For the third quarter of 2006, the Company returned a 7.0% growth in NAV
and similar 6.6% return for its shares, while the benchmark posted a 4.8%
return.



There were no significant extremes in terms of performance during the month,
either positive or negative.  For the quarter, the Company benefited from its
overweight in Mexican homebuilder Corp. Geo and its overweight in Brazilian
airline TAM and Panamanian airline Copa.  Positive attribution was also derived
from being underweight two Brazilian large caps - oil giant Petrobras and mining
giant CVRD.  Largest detractors to performance during the quarter included being
overweight in Brazilian steel producer Usiminas and being zero-weighted in the
Mexican stock Telmex.



Transactions/Leverage

During the quarter, we reduced our overweight in Brazil slightly, increasing our
country weights in Argentina and Mexico.  In Argentina, we increased our
position in global oil services giant Tenaris given strong prospects for the
industry.  In Brazil, we reduced our exposure to commodities by closing our
holding in Arcelor Brasil and taking some profits in CVRD, holding company
Bradespar, steel producer Usiminas and oil giant Petrobras.  We also rotated out
of Submarino and increased our exposure to the Brazilian airline sector via both
Gol and Tam.  In Chile, we took profits in Endesa, reinvesting the proceeds back
into Lan Airlines.  Finally, in Mexico, we took profits in Banorte, and invested
in Femsa, closed our position in Grupo Mexico as a further way to reduce
commodity exposure, increased our weight in Grupo Televisa due to positive
prospects for its gaming/lottery business, and reintroduced homebuilder Homex
into the portfolio given our continue positive views on the sector.  During the
last day of September, we began to raise cash to meet the needs of the tender
offer, which were paid out on 4 October 2006.  We have not changed our leverage
position, which has gone up slightly to just over 6% as a result of the tender
offer.



Positioning

At the end of the quarter, the Company continued with a large overweight
position in Brazil, Argentina at roughly a neutral position (due to Tenaris) and
various degrees of underweights in the other countries.  Brazil continues to
offer the best combination of top down catalysts (mainly from interest rate cuts
by the Central Bank) along with company specific fundamentals (attractive
multiples with strong earnings growth).  The other markets are closer to fair
value if not above it.  At the sector level, the consumer in general is the
Company's largest exposure, especially among Brazilian and Chilean retailers.
The portfolio is also overweight in the industrial sector, mostly related to
airlines in Brazil, Chile and Panama and homebuilders in Brazil and Mexico.







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'MLIMINDEX' on Reuters, 'MLIM' on Bloomberg or '8800' on Topic 3 (ICV terminal).



17 October 2006


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