Africa: Reliance on foreign direct investment has distorted African development, UN says

The persistent colonial legacy of relying on foreign direct investment has distorted African economic development and locked in low value-added, limited reinvested earnings and volatile inflows, yet it is being seen as an answer to today's problems, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says in a new report. "In the face of inadequate resources to finance long-term development in Africa and with poverty reduction and other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) looking increasingly difficult to achieve by 2015, attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) has assumed a prominent place in the strategies of economic renewal being advocated by policy makers at the national, regional and international levels," it says.