Foreign direct investments from Africa slip to $2.1b in 2011 from $5b – UNCTAD

Foreign direct investments (FDI) from African countries have fallen from $5 billion recorded in 2010 to $2.1 billion at the end of 2011, an investment monitor report released by the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), has disclosed.

“The declines in outflows from Egypt and Libya, traditionally important outward investors of the region, weighed heavily in the fall in total outward FDI,” said UNCTAD’s Global Investment Trends Monitor published April 12, 2012.

Also, divestment by transnational corporations (TNCs) from South Africa, which is another major outward investor, pulled down the total FDI during the year, the report noted, citing the divestment of the Franklin supermarket chain in Australia by the retail group Pick n Pay Stores as a typical example.

By Ekow Quandzie