via Zimbabwe: SADC’s worst for investment – NewZimbabwe 07/05/2015
ZIMBABWE has the worst investment climate in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, with a ranking of 170 in terms of protecting investors.
The World Bank has ranked the country 171 out of 189 countries on its 2014 ease of doing business index, something attributed to negative perceptions of Zimbabwe’s policies, such as its land reform, as well as the current crusade to localise control of all foreign-owned enterprises.
The Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) chief executive officer, Richard Mbaiwa told a Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Industry and Commerce that local investment laws remained a major impediment to foreign direct investment (FDI).
“It is clear that as a country, we are not performing to our best potential in terms of investment inflows, especially if you compare with countries with similar resource endowment in the region,” he told legislators.
“Zimbabwe needs to aggressively improve the overall business environment and investment climate to attract meaningful levels of investment.
“There is need to undertake reforms so that we are seen to be making some improvements in our doing business environment.”
Mbaiwa blamed Western sanctions, policy inconsistencies and a liquidity crisis for low investment inflows.
This come as the southern African country has, for the first time in a decade, pleaded with the West for direct financial aid.
Foreign direct investment has remained stagnant at $400 million in the past two years.
In terms of FDI, Zimbabwe received investment worth $60m in 2009, the following year it received $166m then $387m in 2011, while in 2012 it received $400m before reaching about $410m in 2013.
At peak in 1998, the country received FDI worth $443.3m.
COMMENTS
The Happiest Countries – The World Happiness Report 2015
How´s life? This question, usually part of our small talk repertoire when we meet friends and acquaintances, can also be used to probe our collective feelings of happiness.
People around the world were asked to rate their overall satisfaction in life on a scale of 0 to 10, with zero representing the worst possible life for them and ten the best.
This data, collected by Gallup International, has now been published in the World Happiness Report 2015 by the UN-backed Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
The report, first issued in 2012, is aimed at influencing national policies toward the well-being and quality of life among citizens, instead of purely economic agendas. It also offers insights into happiness worldwide, as the average life satisfaction is used to rank countries from happiest to unhappiest.
Additional statistics chart the reasons why countries differ in happiness, with six key variables accounting for most of the variation between nations. These variables include GDP per capita, social support networks and trust, expected lifespan in good health, the individual freedom to make relevant choices in life, personal generosity, and freedom from corruption in government and business.
The Top 10 Happiest Countries
The top 10 countries are almost the same as in 2012: only the order has changed somewhat. The happiest countries are developed western nations, with good social support networks and high societal trust.
1. Switzerland
2. Iceland
3. Denmark
4. Norway
5. Canada
6. Finland
7. The Netherlands
8. Sweden
9. New Zealand
10. Australia
It probably doesn´t come as a surprise that all five Nordic countries are in the top 10, as their social-democratic model is focused on taking care of the weakest members of society, and relatively low corruption levels inspire trust in official institutions and society as a whole.
The opposite is true in the unhappiest cohort; the bottom 10, including Syria, Afghanistan, and eight Sub-Saharan African countries, are all connected by a tragic history of dictatorships, corruption, and internal conflicts.
What Doesn’t Destroy Us Makes Us Happier?
Looking at the countries that made the biggest gains in happiness, Latin America seems to be on the upswing, as there are five Latin American countries in the top 10. Happiness went up by nearly an entire point in Nicaragua, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Chile. This is a huge increase since the gap between the happiest and unhappiest countries is only about four points.
Latin America is also the only region where the evaluations went up across all age cohorts, a stark contrast to the Middle East and North Africa, where they all decreased. The drop in the Middle East can be attributed mostly to regional unrest, but changes in the survey procedures are also partly responsible. Since 2013 Gallup has included the whole resident populations in their samples, lowering averages in Arab countries with large concentrations of guest workers.
Unsurprisingly, the biggest decreases in overall life satisfaction occurred in countries affected by economic, political or social crises, or a combination of these. The single largest drop, almost 1.5 points, happened in Greece, indicating the unraveling of social fabric following the Eurozone crisis.
The report also highlights a few countries that survived recent economic crises with very small losses in average happiness, such as Ireland and Iceland. In the case of Iceland, the recovery has indeed been so significant to earn the country second place in the worldwide top 10.
The report suggests that if the societal structure is sufficiently strong, especially in the way of support networks, overcoming a crisis can actually make a society happier. This also applies to non-economic crises, as trust and happiness actually increased in Japan´s Fukushima region after the 2011 disaster.
Besides the country rankings, the biggest takeaway from the report is the fact that trust and social support networks are a big part of overall life satisfaction, and help us to cope with crises. It’s not the threats and hardship that make societies stronger – it’s the realization that there’s always someone to lean on.
I cannot believe for a moment that Mugabe does not understand this. But despite what he says, his actions has show that he does not care about the consequences of his actions. He feels secure in his position, because SADC does not call him to account. They can rig these elections with impunity.
Even thieves are scared to invest with even bigger thieves, mugarbage pf and co are parasites and need to be eradicated before a positive outlook can take place or even begin to reverse the rot. There is a whole generation who dont know anything else other than what they have been indoctrinated with by these parasites. Even when these oxygen thieves die of old age or by killing each other, there is a whole nest of younger members to take their places, all feeding on the carcass which used to be fat and healthy, now reduced to a very sorry pile of decomposing bones.
this is nothing new and not surprising in a country where foreign and business policies change everyday to suit the mood of a senile madman, any right thinking person will stay away from such a place. They must tell their bos to stop running his mouth maybe things will improve
“Mbaiwa blamed Western sanctions, policy inconsistencies and a liquidity crisis for low investment inflows”
Bloody hell! I thought the “sanctions myth” was dead and buried. ROFL, we must have THE MOST STUPID GOVERNMENT IN AFRICA. By a long shot.
So, “sanctions” are the problem and not the de-industrialisation (indigenisation) nonsense?
Keep blaming sanctions and embargoes and and and the bottom line is that you will not get a cent for FDIs that’s it!!! You keep your f$%$£ng Zimbabwe w keep our money!!!!!
Surprise Surprise keep it up!