Africa attracted less foreign direct investment in 2025 than in the previous year. Yet the bigger story is that investors continue to position themselves in sectors that are becoming increasingly important to the global economy.
According to the World Investment Report 2026 by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), FDI inflows to Africa reached about $70 billion in 2025.
That was below the exceptional $94 billion recorded in 2024, when a small number of large transactions boosted regional totals. Even so, 2025 was the third-highest level since 1990 for investment into Africa and remained roughly one-third above the continent’s long-term average.
Egypt remained Africa’s largest FDI recipient, with inflows of about $15 billion, helping North Africa remain the continent’s largest recipient subregion despite a sharp decline from the exceptional 2024 level.
At a time when competition for investment is increasingly centred on energy, infrastructure, technology and critical resources, Africa continues to attract investor attention including from the Gulf and other Asian economies. The question is whether that interest can translate into broader economic gains.
African least developed countries were an important part of the continent’s investment picture. They received about $33 billion in FDI, but inflows remained concentrated in a small number of economies linked to natural resources, energy, infrastructure and selected manufacturing projects.
Much of that interest is focused on sectors that are becoming more important in the global economy.
This reflects three overlapping drivers: demand for energy infrastructure, interest in critical minerals needed for batteries and advanced manufacturing, and the search for new industrial and logistics locations as supply chains are reconfigured.
Large language models increasingly write the code behind empirical research. This column reports a benchmark…
Financial crises routinely trigger sweeping overhauls of financial regulation, but whose interests do these reforms…
Bilateral pushback against China is failing, making joint WTO and IMF action key to tackling…
Public debt is at or near record highs across the OECD, increasing the pressure on…
Mortality is one of the most salient consequences of climate change. Existing estimates have largely…
In a green transition, workers will have to move from polluting, carbon-intensive sectors to other…