| Foreign Direct Investment Mozambique
has established itself in recent years as one of the leading FDI recipient countries
in Southern and Eastern Africa (table 6). Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Mozambique
- on an approval basis - reached a cumulative total of $1.6 billion between 1985
and 2000. The main sources of FDI were the Republic of South Africa with 28 per
cent of the total volume (table 7). The United Kingdom with 22 per cent and Portugal
with 19 per cent. Other leading investor countries were Japan, Mauritius and the
United States. It is worth noting that investors from nontraditional source economies
like Japan, France, Hong Kong (China), United States, Malaysia and Mauritius have
participated in key areas like banking, textiles, steel and sugar over the past
five years.
Foreign Direct Investment on an Approval
Basis
|
(number of projects and millions of dollars) | |
No. of
projects | Approved
investment
(Cumulative from | |
Position | Economy |
Current | 1985 to
2000) | | 1 |
South Africa | 278 |
447 | | 2 |
United Kingdom | 85 |
352 | | 3 |
Portugal | 364 |
305 | | 4 |
Japan | 2 |
130 | | 5 |
Mauritius | 21 |
80 | | 6 |
United States | 19 |
40 | | 7 |
Australia | 15 |
34 | | 8 |
Netherlands | 12 |
26 | | 9 |
Hong Kong, China | 3 |
26 | | 10 |
France | 14 |
19 | | | | | |
| |
Sub-Total | 813 |
1,459 | | | | | |
| Others | |
270 | 136 | |
Total | |
1,083 | 1,595 |
| | | | |
| Source: UNCTAD, based on
information provided by the Investment Promotion Centre of | |
Mozambique. | | | |
| | | | |
South African investments in Mozambique are fairly diversified
with the greater influx being directed to partnerships in major projects, but
there are also investments in small and medium-scale projects, especially in industry
and tourism. The United Kingdom has now moved to the second
position as a source of FDI on account of Billiton's participation in MOZAL. Portuguese
investment is mostly in the service sector: banking, insurance, consulting. Over
recent years there has been a shift towards light industry and smallscale agriculture.
The majority of Portuguese projects registered over recent years are related to
the privatization process, such as the acquisition by Portuguese firms ofparastatals
like Banco Comercial de Moçambique, Cimentos de Moçambique, and
Metecna. French investment has recorded considerable growth
following projects like the Laurentina Cervejas (brewery) and MOZAL. German FDI
is most noticable in the telecommunication sector, where Deutsche Telekom is a
leading partner of the Mozambican mobile phone company MCel and where it has a
managing contract for the fixed-line service of TDM, the Mozambican national telecommunication
company. About 7 per cent of FDI originates from Swaziland, China, Italy, Zimbabwe
and Australia, among other countries. |
