Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Zambia fell by almost 50 percent to about US$ 560m in 2018, according to Bank of Zambia (BoZ) governor Denny Kalyalya.
Kalyalya said the significant decline was mainly due to losses of almost US$ 340m – mostly in the mining sector where some companies had encountered operational challenges, the Lusaka Times reported. As a result of the declining profitability, borrowing from foreign affiliates increased to about US$ 640m in 2018 from US$ 560m in 2017, the BoZ governor told a workshop of the Foreign Private Investment which was addressing investor perception survey results in Lusaka on Wednesday.
According to Kalyalya, in terms of sectoral performance, the manufacturing sector was the leading recipient of net FDI liability flows. He further explained that peace, security, political stability and a relatively stable macroeconomic environment had continued to be the main motivating factors for investing in Zambia.