Egyptian investment overseas plunged by almost half in 2011, down to $600 million from $1.2 billion the year before as political instability took its toll, new data shows.
A Thursday report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), shows a 46.8 per cent fall in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) outflows from Egyptian sources.
Egypt is responsible for over a quarter of Africa's total investment outflow.
FDI from the entire African continent plummeted too, from $5 billion in 2010 to $2.1 billion last year -- a drop of 58 per cent.
"The declines in outflows from Egypt and Libya, traditionally important outward investors of the region, weighed heavily in the fall in total outward FDI," the report explained.
Outflows from developing economies worldwide slipped 6.8 per cent to $356.5 billion, a fall the report attributed to significant declines in outward FDI from Latin America and the Caribbean.
The broader picture, however, showed global FDI rose by 16 per cent in 2011 to reach around $1.66 trillion, surpassing the pre-crisis levels of 2007.
"This growth was due in large part to cross-border mergers and acquisitions and to increased amounts of cash reserves kept in foreign affiliates," the report said.
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