HARARE, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) - Zimbabwe's foreign direct investment (FDI) declined sharply from 717.1 million U.S. dollars in 2018 to 259 million dollars in 2019, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) said Monday.
Similarly, net portfolio investment inflows declined significantly from 54 million dollars in 2018 to 3.7 million dollars in 2019, RBZ Governor John Mangudya said in the 2020 monetary policy statement.
Mangudya said FDI, in particular, was projected to remain low in the short-term due to perceived country risk profile.
"The decline in both FDI and portfolio investment was, in large part, due to heightened perceived country risk," he said.
He said the country's total foreign currency receipts in 2019 amounted to 6.88 billion dollars, compared to 7.21 billion received in 2018.
This represented a 4.4 percent decline in foreign currency supply, he said.
Zimbabwe's economy contracted by 6.5 percent in 2019 but is expected to recover and grow by three percent in 2020 on the back of improved agriculture performance. Enditem
