SA fares poorly in Africa investment stakes

ALAN PEAT WHILE SA won the African Country of the Future 2005/2006 competition run by the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) magazine, it did not fare so well in the actual FDI game. It did not feature high in the category of FDI promotion – which Egypt won for the quality of its promotional strategy; infrastructure projects; overall FDI attractiveness; foreign companies partnership approach; access to EU, Middle East and African markets; low-cost utilities, raw materials and a skilled, productive, low-cost workforce. Adding more injury was the fact that Nigeria, Tanzania, Botswana, Egypt, Tunisia, Tanzania, Ghana, Mozambique and Rwanda all scored higher than SA on overall FDI appeal, promotion strategies and incentive schemes. “SA therefore seems to rank low when compared to other African countries in promoting itself as an investment destination,” said trade consultants, Deloitte, “and in developing attractive investment incentives.” They also suggested that a study of other African countries’ investment programmes could result in more attractive schemes that could generate even greater FDI to SA.