Caleb M Fundanga: Foreign private investment in Zambia Opening remarks by Dr Caleb M Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at the Closing and Dissemination Workshop on Foreign Private Investment and Investor Perceptions Survey, Lusaka, 20 January 2011. *  *  *  The Deputy Secretary to the Cabinet, Mr Evans Chibiliti; The Deputy permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Works and Supply, Mrs Bweupe Kaonga; The MEFMI Executive Director, Dr Elias Ngalande; The IMF Country Representative, Mr Perry Perone; Heads of Government Departments present; Chief Executive Officers of various Companies and Associations present Colleagues from Bank of Zambia; Distinguished Participants; Members of the Press; Ladies and Gentlemen. It is my honour and privilege to officiate at this very important Closing and Dissemination workshop of Phase III of the Survey on Foreign Private Investment and Investor Perceptions. As I welcome you all, I wish to convey my appreciation for your contributions to the success of this project. May I, in this regard, express our special appreciation to the private sector colleagues for their cooperation during the survey. Let me also take this opportunity to extend my sincere gratitude to the Private Sector Development (PSD) Programme, for providing financial support for this very important project. Further, our thanks go to the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute (MEFMI), and Development Finance International (DFI) for providing technical support to this survey.
With their technical support, the Government, through the Balance of Payments Statistical Committee, comprising representatives from the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources, Zambia Development Agency, Central Statistical Office and Bank of Zambia, was able to undertake this very important survey. Distinguished Participants, As you are aware, the Zambian economy has recorded significant positive developments in the recent past, owing to the economic reforms the Government has been implementing since 1992. These reforms have facilitated foreign investments in various sectors of the economy. These reforms have also resulted in Zambia recording tremendous improvement in world ranking with regard to the ease of doing business. The favourable investment climate created has raised investor confidence in the Zambian economy thereby attracting both local and foreign investments. Ladies and Gentlemen, the survey findings we are disseminating today show that the overall Foreign Private Investment inflows in 2009, declined to US $ million from US $ million recorded in 2007. This was explained mainly by the notable reduction in re-invested earnings, due to lower profits recorded by enterprises during the year. The overall reduction in foreign investment inflows is also consistent with global developments. In fact, at a global level, foreign direct Investment inflows drastically declined to US $ billion in 2009 from US $ billion in 2008 and US $ billion in 2007. Nonetheless, new equity investment inflows in Zambia surged to US $ million in 2009 from US $ million recorded in 2007.