course

Investors remain interested in South Africa’s well-developed
economy and its status as a launch-pad into Africa.
In contrast to South Africa’s more positive performance,
country, where projects fell from 23 in 2014 to just 2 in 2015.
The region’s other resource-rich economies, namely Angola and
Zambia bore the brunt of lower oil and commodity prices. While
Angola saw no change in the number of FDI projects, investment
activity was subdued in Zambia, where projects fell 13.3% since
2014.
The West Africa subregion regained traction after a sluggish
2014, with FDI projects up 16.2%. Interestingly, in 2015, West
Africa became the leading recipient of capital investment on the
continent, outpacing Southern Africa.
2015 proved to be a landmark year for Nigeria. On the one hand,
the country enjoyed a smooth transition of power following its
26
On the other hand, plunging oil prices piled pressure on the
Nigerian economy, triggering a slowdown in growth as foreign
exchange shortages crippled business and led to rising shortages. 27
Nevertheless, from an FDI perspective, Africa’s largest economy
recovered from weaker 2014 levels, with FDI projects up by 8.2%.
Most of the activity was centered on business services, where
projects grew from just 4 in 2014 to 12 in 2015.
Top 15 destination countries by FDI projects (2015)
Country
Jobs created
1 South Africa 130 120 8.3% 16.9% 6.8% 8,8%
2 Kenya 95 62 53.2% 12.3% 3.6% 8,0%
3 Morocco 74 67 10.4% 9.6% 6.3% 17.4%
4 Egypt 66 59 11.9% 8.6% 20.5% 8.6%
Kenya becomes
biggest gainer, with
year-on- year FDI
project numbers
growing by over
50%.
5 Nigeria 53 49 8.2% 6.9% 12.1% 9.2%
6 Ghana 41 39 5.1% 5.3% 2.0% 1.5%
7 32 50 -36.0% 4.2% 7.2% 7.1%
8 Ethiopia 30 32 -6.3% 3.9% 2.5% 9.7%
9 Cote d’lvoire 28 15 86.7% 3.6% 5.0% 3.3%
10 Uganda 24 23 4.3% 3.1% 6.5% 1.4%
Cote d’lvoire
enters the top
15 list
11 Tanzania 23 20 15.0% 3.0% 1.9% 1.6%
12 Cameroon 15 8 87.5% 1.9% 2.6% 0.9%
13 Tunisia 13 11 18.2% 1.7% 0.6% 1.3%
13 Algeria 13 13 0.0% - 1.7% 1.1% 2.5%
13 Rwanda 13 11 18.2% 1.7% 1.7% 1.2%
Increase in FDI projects (2015 vs. 2014) Decrease in FDI projects (2015 vs. 2014)
Source: fDi Markets, EY analysis
26
” Financial Times website, www.ft.com, accessed 14 March 2016.
27
” Financial Times website, www.ft.com, accessed 19 March 2016.
18 EY’s Africa Attractiveness Program 2016 Staying the course