Foreign Direct Investment flows to developing economies accounts for 72 per cent of global FDI, highest share till date, it has been revealed.
The African Energy Chamber made the revelation on Tuesday in a statement made available to Financial Street.
According to the chamber, the continent remains a highly attractive market for inbound investment.
It said, “In fact, despite a global downturn in investment in 2020, FDI flows to developing economies accounted for 72 per cent of global FDI, the highest share to date.
“Take Uganda, for instance, which is home to one of the largest onshore discoveries in sub-Saharan Africa. Following multiple petroleum discoveries in Uganda’s Albertine Graben, foreign investments into the country are expected to reach nearly $20bn.”
Stressing the importance of foreign investments to the continent, the chamber stated, “FDI is vital to Africa’s growth, and while it may be challenging to procure capital in a tepid global economy, it is even more difficult not to.”
It further noted however that it was not an option to slow or postpone time-sensitive developments that promise to harness natural resource wealth and make sustainable improvements in standards of living across the continent.
“Africa requires a sustained flow of investment and has proven time and again that it offers the scope of projects and magnitude of resources that are worthy of foreign capital,” the AEC added.
The Executive Chairman of the AEC, NJ Ayuk, urged, “We must not forget local content, local jobs, local opportunities especially for young people and women.
“Young people and women have shown their great resilience, and it is our hope we close these deals in the renewable energy sector, Africans can have a sense of some hope that they will be included in the industry contracts and opportunities. It is no longer correct for the African to be the last hired and the first fired.”
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