[SIZE=6]Foreign direct inflows hit record Sh164.8bn high[/SIZE]
SUNDAY, JUNE 16, 2019 22:00
BY CONSTANT MUNDA
https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/image/view/-/5159776/medRes/1589748/-/maxw/960/-/ml5yocz/-/cash.jpgNairobi accounted for 18.21 percent of the Sh908.97 billion injected into 11 eastern African economies. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Kenya’s foreign direct investment (FDI) rose 27.53 percent in 2018 to hit a new high of Sh164.84 billion driven by increased flows into manufacturing, chemicals, hospitality, and oil and gas, World Investment 2019 report suggests. The report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) indicates foreign investments last year were Sh13.69 billion more than 2017 whose inflows have been revised upwards to Sh129.26 billion from Sh68.13 billion.
“The country has been making strides to facilitate private enterprise and foreign investment, which are contributing to increasing FDI,” UNCTAD says in the report published late Wednesday.
“It improved its ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking and has also been marketing its export processing zones (EPZs) as attractive destinations for manufacturing-oriented foreign investment.”
American global hospitality brands such as Hilton, which opened a new outlet — Hilton Garden Inn — near Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Radisson Hotel Group are some of the major foreign firms which have sunk millions of shillings in Kenya in recent years.
[ul]
[li]https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/image/view/-/5126752/medRes/2351374/-/mnasyy/-/fdi.jpgNEWS INDEPTH: Financial services sector biggest FDI inflows recipient[/li][/ul]
Others are Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Ltd and UK’s Tullow Oil which is trucking oil from Turkana oil fields to Mombasa for planned exportation.