Mr Mbaiwa.
Zimbabwe received Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) worth $545 million in 2014, a 36 percent increase from $400 million a year earlier, but still lags behind its counterparts in the region as the economic environment remains difficult.
Speaking at the launch of the United Nations Conference on trade and Development (UNCTAD) 2015 World Investment Report, Zimbabwe Investment Authority chief executive Mr Richard Mbaiwa said the investments were mostly made in the mining, infrastructure and service sectors.
“There was a significant improvement in levels of investment despite the fact that the continent has remained flat at $54 billion,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, secretary for Economic Planning and Investment promotion Dr Desire Sibanda said the country has hosted more than 30 delegations of potential investors from abroad over the past six months, a sign that Zimbabwe was better placed for more FDIs. But analysts say the Government should put in place good policies that improve the way of doing business to attract foreign direct investment.
“There has been improvement in the amount of FDI into the mining sector, and the transport sector. We are going to see a lot of improvement in the future,” said Dr Sibanda.
In a dollarised economy, FDIs are a major source of liquidity. Dr Sibanda said reports that Africa has been losing more than $80 billion every month from extractive industries through tax evasion needs to be addressed.
He said Zimbabwe needs to train the tax authority to be able to tax mining companies properly so as not to lose any more money.
According to the Investment Report, global foreign direct investment fell 16 percent to $1,23 trillion due to the fragility of the global economy, policy uncertainty for investors and higher geological risks. The report also said some large divestments had offset the new investments made into the economies.
Africa’s investment flows were stagnant at $54 billion and South Africa remained the country that receives the most FDI in the region as well as the continent after receiving $5,7 billion. Mozambique, the recipient of the third largest amount of FDI in Africa attracted $4,9 billion and Zambia $2,4 billion.
Zimbabwe has, however, attracted more investments than Malawi and Swaziland whose investment levels are at $130 million and $13 million respectively. The whole of Southern Africa received a cumulative $10,8 billion while north Africa saw its FDI inflows decline 15 percent to $11,5 billion due to the conflict in some countries.
“East Africa saw its FDI flows increasing by 11 percent to $6,8 billion. FDI rose in the gas sector in Tanzania and Ethiopia is becoming a hub for multinational enterprises producing garments and textiles,” the report said.
The report said investment into Africa is increasingly being made by multinational enterprises from China and India and the largest portion of the continent’s investments went towards the services sector. – BH24.