FDIs into Africa rise $32b on oil, metals exports – World Bank

Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) into Africa as at the end of 2010 were $32 billion, the World Bank says.

According to the World Bank, inflows of FDIs to the continent increased by 6% from 2008 due to price increases of commodities such as metal, oil and mineral exports.

“The external drivers of growth in 2010 included  increased commodity prices — particularly for metal, mineral and oil exporters; increased inflows of foreign direct investment – the region attracted $32billion  in FDI in 2010, a 6 percent increase from 2008”, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director, World Bank said in a speech she delivered at the MIT-Sloan School Africa Business Conference, in the US recently.

In Ghana, inflows of FDIs as at early December 2010 were estimated at over $1.3 billion of which the oil sector accounted for a significant portion – $550 million, the Bank of Ghana said at its last Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on December 10, 2010.

Dr Okonjo-Iweala also indicated in her speech that sub Sahara Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) was 4.7% in 2010 as against 1.3% in 2009.

“Growth in Sub Saharan Africa rebounded strongly in 2010 with its GDP estimated to have expanded by 4.7 percent in 2010, up from the 1.3 percent growth recorded in 2009 and just shy of its pre-crisis average growth of 5%”, she indicated.

Despite the struggling of global economy to fully recover, the World Bank however expects growth in Africa to remain strong in 2011 and 2012 with 5.3% and 5.5% respectively, “making Sub-Saharan Africa excluding South Africa, one of the fastest growing regions.”

By Ekow Quandzie