OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Thursday
FOREIGN investment in Zimbabwe dropped 61% between January and April this year compared to the same period last year, the country’s investment promotion agency was on Thursday quoted as saying.
The state-owned Business Herald said statistics from the Zimbabwe Investment Centre (ZIC) showed that only 24 projects compared to 63 were approved during the first four months of 2001.
The slump in investment levels was attributed to, among other factors, adverse macro-economic conditions and negative international publicity arising from political developments in the southern African country.
“This decline can be attributed to the general poor macro-economic environment prevailing in the country … characterised by high inflation, foreign exchange shortages,” Richard Mbaiwa, the ZIC acting director told the paper.
“The country has received a lot of negative publicity in the international media and this has led to uncertainty on the part of investors and hence they tend to defer their investment plans,” he said.
China accounted for largest number of investors in the period under review, followed by Britain.
Economists said a government-backed land grab had sparked a general loss of confidence in Zimbabwe that had depressed investment levels.
The invasion last year of hundreds of white-owned farms by veterans of the country’s liberation war and a subsequent violent electoral campaign, saw the country’s international standing deteriorate, worsening Zimbabwe’s economic crisis. – AFP
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