Investment Inflows Increase By 84 Percent

Rwanda:

Kigali — Rwanda has seen a dramatic rise
in investment inflows, according to
the World Investment Report (WIR) 2009.
The report released recently said that inflow
increased from $16m in 2006 to $67m in 2007
and $103m last year, surpassing
for the first time giant Kenya.

For the third year running, Uganda has led

the East Africa region in attracting

foreign direct investment, according to the WIR.

Uganda fetched $787m in foreign investments

in 2008, up from $733m in 2007

and $644m in 2006.

Tanzania came second in the region.
It attracted $744m in 2008.
This was an improvement from
the previous year when $728m was fetched.

Kenya only came fourth.

Its foreign investments fell to $96m in 2008,

from $728m as the country suffered

the consequences of post-election violence.

Burundi still has a negligible inflow

as the country tries to hold together

a fragile post-conflict government

and find its feet in the

greater East African Community.

In both 2007 and 2008, Burundi attracted
only $1m in foreign investment.
Kenya's poor performance might explain
the fact that over-all investments
in East Africa remained stagnant
in 2008 compared to the previous year.

"In East Africa, FDI inflows amounted

to $4 billion - almost the same as in 2007.

This represents 5 percent of total inflows

into Africa, making it the lowest recipient

among African sub-regions," says the report.

Despite the rise in foreign investments

in some countries, East Africa did not

escape the effects of the global financial crisis

which started in the US in September 2008.

In Uganda, inflows started to fall in the last quarter

of 2008, to $159m in the fourth quarter,

down from $211m in the third quarter.

There are signs of slight recovery in 2009.
According to figures from the World Investment Report,
foreign investments went up again
in the first quarter of 2009, to $183m.

Over-all, Africa registered another record level

in foreign direct investments despite

the global financial crisis.

The continent attracted a total of $88b in 2008,

a rise from $69b in 2007 and $57b in 2006.

Africa's share in attracting foreign

direct investment also rose - from 3.5 percent

in 2007 to 5 percent in 2008.

"Cross-border mergers and acquisitions were

an important contributing factor

in the increased inflows," the report said.

"Transnational corporations, mainly from Europe
and to a lesser extent Asia, stepped up mergers
and acquisitions of firms in the region in early 2008,
particularly in the manufacturing sector."

The report also attributes the increased

foreign investments in Africa to policy measures

adopted by several African countries

to make the business environment more conducive.

The top 10 recipient countries in Africa accounted

for nearly 82 percent of the

total foreign investments in the continent,

according to the report.

A large proportion of the inflows

to these countries targeted petroleum exploration

and mining activities.

Nigeria tops the list with foreign investments

amounting to $20b in 2008.

It is followed by Angola ($16b),

Egypt and South Africa (both $9b).

The others include Libya, Tunisia, Algeria,

Congo and Sudan.

Link here

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             J-L K.
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