Foreign Direct Investment Inflows into Zimbabwe

Abstract

The authors sought to explore factors that influenced foreign direct investment (FDI) in Zimbabwe between 1990 and 2014. In spite of Zimbabwe being one of the richest countries, with respect to mineral endowment in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region there was a paradox of less FDI attracted into the country. We include the investment policy stability (IPS) variable that has been ignored in the current literature; yet, the investment centre policies in any given developing country influence FDI inflows. The authors used Ordinary Least Square regression analysis technique to estimate an investment equation for Zimbabwe using Time-Series annual data obtained from the UNCTAD and World Bank database. The results suggest that investment policy stability; trade openness of the country; inflation rate and growth in real domestic product have a significant influence on the FDI inflows into the country. In conclusion, the results suggest that investment policy stability played an important role in attracting FDI into the country. Also, the results are expected to give a useful insight to policymakers that are responsible for attracting FDI inflows into Zimbabwe and other developing countries.