The interim leader of Zimbabwe, Ernest Mnangagwa, is obviously eager to market the new Zimbabwe to the world. At an event ahead of the meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, President Mnangagwa declared that his country was “open for business” and assured foreign investors that their money would be protected.
Mr. Mnangagwa, who got to power in 2017 after the ousting of former President Robert Mugabe, told the gathering of government officials and business leaders that he was going to the Davos meetings to “dispel the perception” that Zimbabwe is “an isolated island.”
Latest statistics from the Zimbabwe Investment Authority, ZIA, showed that the highest number of investment since January was awarded to the mining sector which had 38 projects valued at 467 million dollars. The country’s mining sector has been improving lately with gold expected to rake in three billion dollars in export earnings from the two billion dollars realised last year.
Manufacturing had second highest in approved projects during the same period this year with 28 projects worth 63 million dollars, up from projects valued at 25 million dollars in 2017.
The other sectors which had approved investments by ZIA include services, agriculture and construction. ZIA approved low numbers of investment in the tourism, energy and transport sectors.
In 2017, Zimbabwe attracted 319 million dollars in Foreign Direct Investment flows, a plunge from 421 million dollars in 2015. ZIA said Zimbabwe still lags behind its regional peers such as Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia, which registered three billion dollars, 2.3 billion dollars and 469 million dollars respectively in FDI inflows in 2017.
The authority said in 2014 the country’s FDI amounted to 545 million dollars, showing that investment amounts have been decreasing over the last few years.
