HARARE: Zimbabwe Investment Authority’s chief executive, Richard Mubaiwa told Xinhua on Thursday that the growth in FDI inflows was spurred by investment in mining, infrastructure and manufacturing sectors, adding that the inflows have been increasing since 2009.
The FDI into Zimbabwe stood at 71 million in 2007 and reached 400 million in 2014.
However, the official said the investment is still far from what it is expected for it.
“We have been operating below potential for a number of years now and we still have a long way to get to desired levels of around 1 to 2 billion dollars FDI per annum,” Mubaiwa said.
An unstable investment environment characterized by policy uncertainty and inconsistency has been cited as a major drawback to foreign investment attraction in Zimbabwe.
The low FDI inflows have worsened liquidity in the economy and are militating against economic recovery efforts.
According to the report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, southern Africa attracted 10.8 billion U.S. dollars in FDI last year. Most of Zimbabwe’s neighbors received upwards of one billion U.S. dollars.
Africa’s FDI was 53.91 billion dollars in 2014, marginally down from 53.96 billion dollars in the previous year, the report says.
