FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT : Cameroon, Gabon and Chad receive lion’s share in 2022
According to the report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) on investments in the world, the six Cemac countries have received 2,156 billion FCFA in Foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2022. Down by 299 billion FCFA compared to the previous year, these FDI are unevenly distributed between the states. Gabon, Cameroon and Chad take the lion’s share, while the CAR is almost left out in the sharing.
The figures contained in the report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) on investments in the world inform that this Central African country received FDI worth 1.1 billion dollars in 2022, or about 656.3 billion FCFA. This envelope is nevertheless drastically decreasing, since the country had received 895 billion FCFA of FDI in 2021. According to the distribution report, Gabon received the largest share of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the year 2022.
In the hit parade of the largest catchers of FDI in the Cemac zone, Gabon outsmart Cameroon, that is now ranked second destination for Foreign Direct Investment in the subregion. According to the figures of Unctad, this country considered as the first economy of Cemac received more than 530 billion FCFA of FDI during the year 2022. The third largest destinations for FDI in the Cemac Zone is held by the Republic of Chad, which received an envelope of more than 360 billion FCFA in 2022, against 420.6 billion FCFA in 2021, which reveals a decrease of about 60 billion FCFA in one year.
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Based on the figures published by Unctad, Gabon, Cameroon and Chad alone received 72 % of FDI destined for Cemac countries in 2022. Indeed, the UN body reveals that these three countries have taken $ 2.6 billion in FDI in 2022, or more than 1,550 billion FCFA ; out of a total volume of $ 3.6 billion, about 2,156 billion FCFA invested by foreigners in the subregion that year. Following a global trend, the volume of FDI reaching the Cemac countries is experiencing a decrease, in comparison with the 2,544 billion FCFA received by the six countries of this economic community in 2021. According to Unctad, this decline is the consequence of an international context « largely dominated by crises, in particular the war in Ukraine which paralyzes supply chains, high food and energy prices, financial turbulence and debt pressures ».
The context described by Unctad, however, had no impact on FDI to Congo. Foreign direct investments remained stable there at 532 million dollars in 2022, or 317.5 billion FCFA, according to official figures. The same scenario was observed in Equatorial Guinea, where the country received FDI worth 273.8 billion FCFA, after receiving 460 274 billion FCFA in 2021. A country shaken by internal socio-political tensions for over ten years and which is therefore insecure for foreign investors.
With the FDI inflows recorded in 2022, Cemac now accumulates a stock of foreign direct investments estimated 48,854.7 billion FCFA. 2 / 5th of this stock is for the benefit of the Republic of Congo, which has captured 34 billion dollars, or 20 257.8 billion FCFA.
Sorelle Ninguem
