Ghana Leapfrogs Nigeria on FDI
Ghana is the new king in West Africa, bringing $3 billion on FDI (Foreign direct investment) well ahead of Nigeria's $2 billion, Reuters and UN report. Nothing surprising here – a year leading to Nigeria’s election never does well on FDI. Practically, most foreign entities stay outside, out of fear that Nigeria could break! Of course, we are still here, kampe. They will be back. I expect at least $4.5 billion in FDI this year.
Foreign direct investment in Nigeria, Africa’s top oil producer, plunged by 43 per cent to $2bn, according to a United Nations report.
Reuters reported on Thursday that investors were put off by a dispute between the government and South African telecom giant MTN over repatriated profits. Banks HSBC and UBS both closed representative offices there in 2018.
That left Ghana, which is in the midst of an oil and gas boom and saw inflows of $3bn, as West Africa’s leading destination for foreign investment. Italy’s Eni Group was behind Ghana’s largest greenfield investment project.