Ethiopia Biggest FDI Recipient in East Africa: UNCTAD Report

January 27/20202 Ethiopia was the biggest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) recipient in the East Africa region and the fourth largest FDI destination in Africa in 2019, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Report 2020 revealed. 

Foreign direct investment inflow to Ethiopia was 2.5 billion USD during the stated year.

When compared with the FDI received in 2018, which was a peak year at 3.3 billion USD, the amount declined by 800 million USD, the report noted.

China was the largest investor in Ethiopia in 2019, accounting for 60 percent of newly approved FDI projects.

According to the report, FDI flows to Africa amounted to an estimated 49 billion US dollars –an increase of 3 percent, while FDI flows to East Africa remained steady totaling 8.8 billion USD.

Persistent global economic uncertainty and the slow pace of reforms seeking to address structural productivity bottlenecks in many economies continue to hamper investment in the continent, the report stated.

It added that developing economies continue to absorb more than half of global FDI flows and half of the top 10 largest recipients of investment fall in this category.