Zimbabwe will record its worst foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in more than a decade this year with only US$150 million projects expected this year.<\/p>\n
Finance minister Mthuli Ncube made the revelations when he presented his mid-year budget review last Thursday where he indicated that FDI inflows during the first half of the year were estimated at US$71,2 million compared to US$111,6 million recorded during the same period in 2019.<\/p>\n
“FDI inflows for the year 2020 are expected to end the year at US$150.4 million, which is a 40% decline from the US$249.5 recorded in 2019,” Ncube said.<\/p>\n
FDI inflows rose from US$105 million in 2009 to US$122,6 million in 2010 before jumping to US$344,1 million in 2011.<\/p>\n
The inflows marginally went up to US$349,9 million in 2012 and rose gain to US$373,1 million the following year.<\/p>\n
After the end of the government of national unity in 2013, the 2014 FDI inflows went up to US$472,8 million before tumbling the following year to US$399,1 million.<\/p>\n
FDI took a nosedive again to US$343 million in 2016 and US$306,3 million in 2017.<\/p>\n
In 2018, FDI shot up to US$717 million before plunging to US$249,5 million last year.<\/p>\n
Zimbabwe has been performing badly in terms of attracting foreign capital compared to its regional counterparts.<\/p>\n
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) World Investment Report 2020, Mozambique attracted US$2,7 billion in 2018 and US$2,2 billion in 2019 .<\/p>\n
Botswana attracted US$1,2 billion FDI in 2018.<\/p>\n
Economist John Robertson attributed the low FDI inflows to government interference in business operations.<\/p>\n
“Investors are hardly ever attracted to countries that favour central planning,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Business does not need or want government participation and we are spoiling our chances with government demanding participation.<\/p>\n
“And it shows that government plans to be deeply involved with every business sector and it clearly wants to have a strong influence over every business decision.”<\/p>\n
UNCTAD has projected a 40% drop in global FDI this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
When he took over from long-time ruler Robert Mugabe following a military coup in 2017, President Emmerson Mnangagwa pledged that Zimbabwe would be “open for business”.<\/p>\n
Mnangagwa, however, has been accused of doing very little to encourage FDI and the country still scores poorly on the latest Ease of Doing Business Index, at 140 out of 190 countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zimbabwe will record its worst foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in more than a decade this year with only US$150 million projects expected this year. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube made the revelations when he presented his mid-year budget review last Thursday where he indicated that FDI inflows during the first half of the year were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":17018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[34,807],"class_list":{"0":"post-25505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-economy","9":"tag-emmerson-mnangagwa","10":"tag-mthuli-ncube"},"yoast_head":"\n