The factors affecting the inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from six among the top ten FDI recipient countries

This study examines the factors affecting the inflows of foreign direct investment in Sub-
Saharan Africa: evidence from the six among the top ten FDI recipient countries, namely, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and Sudan for the period 1980-2011. The analysis of the study employed secondary data obtained from the World Bank African Development Indicator, United Nation Conference on Trade, and Development. The study used Dunning’s (1977) eclectic paradigm, the panel cointegration approach and granger causality test for the empirical estimations. The empirical results show that trade openness, infrastructural facilities, human capital
development, exchange rate and market size are the important determinants of inflows of FDI to the individual country while trade openness, infrastructural facilities and market size are the important determinants of inflows of FDI to them as a group. The findings of this study suggest that the policy makers and other stakeholders should encourage the nonmarket
seeking FDIs and facilitate the ease of doing business in the region through addressing trade barriers and provision of incentives to the investors.