In its 2016 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) intelligence Report, the Financial Times ranked Kenya as the 4th African country with the highest FDI attracting up to $1 Billion. The same report ranks Kenya second in Africa after South Africa on the number FDI projects. In comparative terms of Capital Investment, Kenya beat the bigger economic powerhouses of Africa like Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco & Angola which by far have larger GDPs than Kenya.
Kenya’s performance of the number of projects was extremely outstanding flooring all other African economies except South Africa, a strong indicator of its growing dominance. The number of FDI projects into Africa increased by 6%. Kenya’s increased by 47% almost 8 times above the continents average. Kenya’s stellar performance in the 2016 FDi report is a reaffirmation of the country’s steady economic growth. It’s a vote of confidence among key FDI players worldwide.
Vote of Confidence
As an important vote of confidence in the Kenyan economy, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the United States government’s development finance institution, has opened its first- East Africa office in Nairobi. This is the third office OPIC has opened in Africa. OPIC has opened two other offices in Africa in Abidjan, Coted’Ivoire and Johanesburg, South Africa.
Kenya’s first vote of confidence came from China-Africa Development Fund (CADF), the largest Chinese fund capital operating on the continent, which opened its offices in Nairobi to cover the entire East African region.Nairobi has received very positive rankings by PwC and Ernst & Young in their reports on the FDI attractiveness in Africa.
Key Sectors: Renewable Energy, Infrastructure and Real Estate
The major sectors benefiting from the FDI in Kenya include renewable energy, infrastructure and real estate. Kenya is currently undertaking very ambitious renewable energy initiatives including wind, solar, and geothermal resources.
Looking up & ahead- The Forecasts
According to the Trading Economics global macro models, the forecast for Kenya’s FDI performance for 2016-2020 is on an upward scale. It is expected that Kenya will continue its dominance and remain a strong priority FDI destination powerhouse in Africa.