An Economic analyst has dispelled rumours that Foreign Direct Investments (FDI’s) withdraw during general election years.
In an interview with Lusaka Star, Yusuf Dodia said investors only slow down their operations due to fear of political repercussions which tend to have negative impacts on the economy.
The danger comes when one political party begins to say ‘when we get into power, we are going throw out the Chinese’ or ‘we are going to throw out foreigners.’ Then, that is a recipe for foreign investors to be very cautious,
Mr. Dodia.
He said despite investors not being able to pull their investments out of the country, they will slow down the businesses they are currently undertaking which in turn will have a negative impact on economic development.
Mr. Dodia advised political parties to debate and campaign on the basis of what they will do to enhance economic growth so that investors remain confident regardless of election results.
Meanwhile, Business Consultant Mubamba Sichilongo said the country should try to focus on local investment.
An important thing that we should be considering is that investment does not constitute of foreign direct investment. We also need to market to local investment entities that would be able to support,
Mr. Sichilongo.
He said despite the magnitude of local investments not matching up with FDIs, smaller projects can be adopted by local investors.