FDI to Africa to reach $73.5b in 2015
The African Economic Outlook for 2015 has forecast foreign direct investment (FDI) into the continent to reach $73.5 billion in 2015, underpinned by increasing greenfield investment from China – which remains Africa’s largest trade partner after the European Union.
It also shows an increase in intra-African and outward FDI flows. South African companies are the leading investors on the continent, it says.
The report indicates that African countries can only make economic growth more inclusive if they unlock the potentials of local economies, the African Economic Outlook 2015 has said.
The report launched Monday June 25, 2015 at the on-going 50th Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast noted that with Africa’s population set to triple by 2015, modernizing local economies will be vital to make the continent more competitive and to increase people’s living standards.
According to the report, surpassing most regions, in spite of the global crisis, African economies will grow by 4.5 percent in 2015 and may reach 5 percent in 2016 converging with Asia’s current growth rates.
It however, noted that lower oil and commodity prices, uncertain global conditions, the consequences of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and domestic political uncertainties could delay an expected return to pre-2008 levels of growth.
By Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, in Abidjan, Ivory Coast