'The main view expressed in the paper is that Foreign Direct Investments are not a panacea for poverty reduction in all countries.'

'The IEG report finds that the development results of IFC-supported private sector operations in developing countries improved in the last three years, driven by better performance in two regions with a large share of IFC operations: Latin America and Europe and Central Asia. However, project performance stagnated in Africa, Asia and the Middle East – where IFC is growing fastest, and where sound IFC work quality and portfolio risk management will be crucial for better results going forward.'
more...

Global trade and investment has expanded over the past several decades. In Sub-Saharan Africa, however, a region hampered by political instability and governance problems, lack of foreign investment, and other barriers – the opposite has occurred.

Africa’s share of world exports has dropped by nearly two-thirds in three decades from 2.9 percent in 1976 to 0.9 percent in 2006. If Africa’s share of world exports had kept at the same level as the 1970’s its export revenue would be approx more...

This publication covers 53 economies of the African region, with FDI profiles based on data available as of December 2007.

The Guide, the first city investment guide in West Africa, was prepared by the Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) in cooperation with the Columbia Program on International Investment (CPII) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), with the support of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC). The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) and the European Business Council for Africa and the Mediterranean (EB more...

Transnational Corporations, Extractive Industries and Development is the focus of this year's report published by UNCTAD.

The foreign direct investment [FDI] inflows to and outflows from a country may be useful indicators of economic health and investment appeal. Countries with major inflows probably represent growth opportunities. Countries with major outflows probably represent created wealth, or strategic positioning, or less appealing home country investments. Inflows are probably clearer indications of what is going on than outflows.

The flow of Arab capital to Turkey was $70 million in 2002 but that number is expected to top $3 billion this year, said Mehmet Hadra, president of the Turkish-Arab Businessmen Association (TURAB) advisory council.

stanbul : African voices dominated the talks on how globalisation was bypassing the world's poor and what could be done to address it as a two-day UN ministerial conference of 50 of the world's least developed countries (LDCs) ended in Istanbul Tuesday.

In 2003, economists at the Goldman Sachs Research Institute introduced the idea of the BRIC – an acronym that refers collectively to Brazil, Russia, India and China. The economists at Goldman Sachs believed that these emerging markets, if properly managed, could dominate the world economy. Over the summer, Russia Profile is running a series of articles comparing Russia with its BRIC counterparts, focusing particularly on issues of population growth, education and adherence to Western business more...