- China is still the largest investor in Africa over the last 10 years.
- The US is the second-largest investor in Africa, followed by France in third place.
- The report also ranked the UK as the fifth largest investor in Africa, adding that it is quickly losing ground to Japan and UAE, who have both given Africa more investment in the last decade.
China has maintained its position as the largest investor in Africa over the last 10 years by the number of new jobs created (18’562 on average), with a gradual substantial increase of newly created jobs on a yearly basis, according to a new report.
The report by Swiss-African Business Circle showed that China did on average in the last 10 years 27% of its investments in Africa. The report also ranked the US as the second-largest investor, followed by France, and Turkey, in third and fourth positions, respectively.
Finally, the report also ranked the UK as the fifth largest investor in Africa, adding that it is quickly losing ground, as Japan and UAE have both given Africa more weight in terms of share of Africa in their global investments over the last 10 years. According to the report, UAE has substantially and gradually increased its number of newly created jobs in Africa on an annual basis.
The data from the Swiss-African Business Relations Status Quo 2021 report gives a holistic look at how Swiss-African business relations contribute to the Swiss economy. According to the report, Switzerland ranked as the 12th biggest investor in terms of the number of newly created jobs in Africa as Swiss companies have, on average, created 30,407 new jobs over the last 10 years with an average of 458 new projects announced annually over the same period.
Other key findings in the 2021 report include:
- COVID-19 has had an impact across data sets (trade in goods, services & transit trade).
- The global COVID-19 pandemic saw a significant drop in the value of Swiss-African M&A investment projects between 2019 and 2020.
- Medicaments (medical/pharmaceutical products) dominate Swiss exports to African markets at 48%.
- Crude oil makes up 34% of all imports from African countries into Switzerland.
- The top 6 trading partners on the African continent, including Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia and Algeria, were responsible for 73% of all Swiss-African trade in goods in 2020.
The table below shows a comparative analysis of the top 15 investors in Africa in terms of the annual average of newly created jobs in Africa over the last 10 years, the percentage of Africa in the respective country’s global investments as well as the trends for all countries in both job creation in Africa as well as importance of Africa in their global investment strategy.