Constraints on Foreign Direct Investment

Abstract

The 1997 Global Competitiveness Report produced by the World Economic Forum (WEF) shows that the SADC region comes out very poorly in terms of international competitiveness. The two largest SADC countries were included in the WEF world competitiveness index, which is rated from +2.5 for a 100 per cent competitive country to -2.0 for a totally non-competitive country. South Africa was rated at -0.89, whilst Zimbabwe was rated at -1.42. Only Ukraine and Russia were rated lower out of the 53 countries being surveyed. The 1997 Executive Survey carried out by the WEF asked business respondents for their subjective judgements about the ten most competitive economies. Out of the 53 countries ranked, South Africa was ranked 38 whilst Zimbabwe was bottom of the list at number 53. There is clearly a problem for the SADC region in the perception of international investors.