Zambia was among the leading investment destinations in Africa in 2015, the recently published 2016 African Economic Outlook (AEO) indicates.
The AEO presents the current state of economic and social development in Africa and projects the outlook for the coming two years.
The AEO is a product of collaborative work by three international partners: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the OECD Development Centre and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The top 10 African investment destinations in 2015 were:
- Egypt (USD10.2b)
- Mozambique (USD4.7b)
- Morocco (USD4.2b)
- South Africa (USD3.6b)
- Ghana (USD2.5.b)
- Democratic Republic of the Congo (USD2.5b)
- Zambia (USD2.4b)
- Tanzania (USD2.3b)
- Ethiopia (USD2.1b)
- Guinea (USD1.9b) and Kenya (USD1.9b)
Zambia, together with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan, were the main destinations for Chinese Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) inflows in 2015.
During that year, investments in Zambia were concentrated in the extractive industry and related manufacturing activities that saw a jump on FDI from China, USA and Norway.
However, a number of other industry sectors of the Zambian economy present numerous investment opportunities.
Patrick Chisanga, Director General of the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA), explained in an exclusive interview with ZambiaInvest: “Agro-processing [in Zambia] […] presents massive investment opportunities for the processing of crops, fruits and vegetables, as well livestock, forestry (honey and timber) products.”
He added: “In the tourism sector, apart from investments that have been made in the pristine natural environment, there are good opportunities in other niches such as conferencing and sporting events. […] [In the mining sector] there are massive investment opportunities for value addition for the country’s abundant mineral resources, notably gemstones.”
