S.Africa, Morocco ranked top FDI destinations in Africa

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - South Africa’s promotions agency on Tuesday said it was still happy with its status as a top foreign direct investment (FDI) destination on the continent, but with some company this year.

A new survey by Ernest and Young shows South Africa and Morocco sharing the crown as the continent’s top foreign direct investment destinations, attracting 96 FDI projects each in 2017.

This is the first time that South Africa had to share the top ranking with another country.

“Morocco’s position should serve as a wakeup call and motivator for South Africa,” Petrus de Kock Brand, Brand South Africa’s general manager for research, said in the statement.

Kenya, Nigeria and Ethiopia round out the top five FDI-attracting nations on the continent, collectively accounting for 40 percent of the continent’s total FDI projects.

South Africa attracted 139 foreign direct investment projects in 2016, but this dropped to just 96 projects in 2017.

Morocco added 15 projects to push its 2016 total of 81 projects to 96 in 2017.

Kenya increased its FDI projects to 67 in 2017 compared to 40 projects the previous year.

Meanwhile, Nigeria also saw a leap in projects, jumping from 54 in 2016 to 64 in 2017.

“Ethiopia made a momentous improvement with an increase of 288 percent of foreign direct investment, from only 16 in 2016, to 62 projects in 2017,” the survey said.

This is the first time the East African region become the single largest beneficiary of FDI, with a total of 197 projects.