Patterns of Foreign Direct Investment Flows and Trade-Investment Inter-Linkages in Southern Africa : Linking Middle-Income and Low-Income Neighbors

Abstract

This report discusses the patterns of foreign direct investment flows and trade-investment inter-linkages in Southern Africa. It will discuss how cross-border investment flows create a possible channel of growth spillover from South Africa and other MICs to LICs in the subregion, and identify the roles of subregional trade and investment flows in generating these neighborhood effects with LICs. After an introduction with background on the subregion of Southern Africa, Section 2 provides facts on the patterns of trade in Southern African countries to illustrate how much (or little) the Southern African subregion is integrated today and whether or not intraregional trade is growing. Section 3 presents aggregate trends in foreign direct investment flows (and stocks) in SSA, discusses how SASR is situated in such trends, and analyzes the emerging trends of intra-SASR cross-border investments, largely driven by South Africa. Section 4 analyzes trade-investment linkages in Southern Africa at the firm level. Section 5 discusses areas of domestic policies in enhancing trade and foreign direct investment in Southern Africa. Section 6 summarizes the findings from this analysis and discusses their policy implications.