September 17, Zambia Daily Mail
By NKWETO MFULA
This is according to CUTS-ARC’s report study on; Investment Policy in Zambia Performance and Perceptions and Investmetn Policyin Zambia- an agenda for action.
The report says that there has been no serious efforts to analyse Zambia’s onbestment polocies and performance on the recent past with investigations revealing that there was inadequate sector specific data on both inflows and outflows of investment data held by the Zambia Investment Centre (ZIC).
The ZIC data mainly refers to investment pledges and does lnot include actual investments.
CUTS-ARC’s study notes that many FDI’s flows to Zambia during the 1990s were not greenfield investment but mainly for the takeover of privatised parastatal firms and also for retail business.
Even in the absence of precise statistical evidence of the amount and nature of FDI inflows to Zambia, it can be still inferred despite all the efforts in terms of structural adjustment and additional foreign incentives, Zambia has not been a favourable FDI destination.
The report also noted that the country could not catch up with the new developments in the investment facilitation arrangements, especially “the all-under-one-roof” facility for a potential investor.
The report stated that inadequate infrastructure facilities are a major roadblock in attracting FDI in Zambia.
It further says technology transfer and skill sharing are neglected at present because the country also lacks skilled manpower due to the absence of quality education and training institutions.
CUTS-ARC stated that there is also inadequate polocy coordination among not only the various institutions crucial for investment facilitation but also between the agencies such as competition commission and the sectorial regulators.