New York, Feb 14: Foreign Direct Investment in five least developed countries in Africa declined in 2002 and though two other nations in the continent made small gains, they did not keep pace with large recent losses, the UN Conference on Trade and Development has said. It listed the five LDCs as Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic and Malawi. In the countries with extractive industries, most investment went to that sector, but even that amount declined, UNCTAD said.
In oil-rich, cash-poor Angola, foreign inflows slumped to 1.3 billion dollar from 2.1 billion dollar in 2001.
New offshore oil projects were expected to keep Angola as one of the top FDI recipients in Africa, however, according to the agency.
Gold production fell in Burkina Faso, where FDI dropped to 8.2 million from 23 million dollar. "Some recovery is expected, however, as the economy is further liberalized and FDI in the services sector picks up," UNCTAD said.
Despite rich resources in the Central African Republic, "which has witnessed cycles of political instability," FDI there slid to 4.3 million dollar in 2002 from 5.2 million dollar in 2001.
Flows into Burundi were nil in 2001 and 2002 after reaching 11.7 million dollars in 2000. Investment funds were withdrawn from Malawi "because of structural problems," -- 32 million dollars in 2000 and 20 million dollars in 2001, the agency said, but the country neither gained nor lost investment in 2002. Bureau Report