Foreign investments: Lowest level in five years

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"5489","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-11318 size-full","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"800","height":"600","alt":"Table-1"}}]] Table-1

</div> The reading calls for some caution when it comes to foreigners investing in productive sectors of the economy without which technological transfer would grind to a standstill and job creation will be sluggish. For the first nine months of the year, foreigners have invested drastically less in sectors such as construction where investment levels dropped to Rs 112 million as compared to Rs 376 million last year and Rs 865 million in 2013. Investment in construction peaked at Rs 2.3 billion in 2012. Another tell-tale sign of this worrying trend is investment in the information and communication sector which stood at Rs 141 million for the first three quarters of 2015. This sector is hailed as one of the so-called new economy sectors which is expected to become a major job creator and enable the transformation of Mauritius into an ICT hub. The trend is one of dwindling investments which need to be addressed. Transforming Mauritius into a knowledge-driven economy is another objective the country has set for its long-term vision. However, from 2010 to 2015, the direct investment from abroad – which is the key purveyor of technological transformation – has once more been on a downward trend. FDI in “professional, scientific and technical activities” stood at zero as at end Q3. Get this right, foreigners are not investing in any form of scientific and technical activities. And it seems the writing has been on the wall for some time. FDI in this sector stood at Rs 404 million in 2010. However, over the following five years, it constantly decreased to reach zero this year. FDI figures are Rs 266 million in 2011, Rs 52 million in 2012, Rs 33 million in 2013 and Rs 2 million in 2014. Concerning the sources of direct investments into the country, Europe remains our topmost purveyor (Rs 4.8 billion as at Q3 2015), while South Africa comes in second with slightly over Rs 1 billion. (See Table 2 for details).