Nigeria’s Gross FDI Rises As Africa Records Unprecedented Investment Figures

VENTURES AFRICA – A report showing outstripping of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows from developed countries by developing economies has been released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD .

According to BusinessDay, the report showed that, for the first time in history, FDI inflows from developing economies into Africa ($45.5 billion) were larger than those from developed economies ($43.2 billion).

The report also revealed that in 2011, Sub-Saharan Africa recorded a 25 percent growth in FDI with total investment reaching about $37 billion.

In Nigeria, the continent’s second largest economy, gross FDI rose to $8.9 billion in 2011 from $6.1 billion in 2010, hovering around the figures recorded in 2009 and 2008 ($8.7 billion and $8.2 billion, respectively).

Commenting on the report, Samir Gadio, an emerging markets strategist at Standard Bank London, said: “…the breakdown of FDI recipients in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), excluding South Africa, it is clear that resource-rich or oil-exporting economies topped the list (Nigeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, DRC)”

According to Gadio, for a qualitative shift in FDI to occur, the authorities will need to speed up the implementation of structural reforms.