Stakeholders have lamented that the annual investment deficit of Nigeria and other developing countries has continued to widen in the last two years, up from $2.5 trillion in 2015 to $4 trillion in 2022.
    
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), global FDI fell 26.7 per cent from 1.76 trillion dollars in 2015 to 1.29 trillion dollars last year. Lack of sufficient FDI, the body said, will hamper global efforts to boost economic development and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
  
Friends of Investment Facilitation for Development (FIFD), a group of developing and least developed countries (LDC) members who launched the Investment Facilitation for Development (IFD) initiative, said the agreement can create opportunities for them to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) for a more sustainable future. Of the over 110 participating member countries, 77 are developing countries including Nigeria, and 20 are LDCs.
    
Noting that the outlook for FDI in 2023 appears weak, they emphasised the great potential of the IFD Agreement, which would be the first of its kind to set global benchmarks for helping WTO members create an environment conducive to attracting investment. They said the Agreement is a global action to revitalise the global economy.
   
Director of the Regional Integration and Trade Division at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Stephen Karingi, said the Agreement will be particularly relevant for Africa, which is seeing a prolonged FDI stagnation that reveals structural issues in the continent when it comes to attracting and retaining foreign direct investment. “If we fail to provide quality, simplicity and predictability in policy and legal frameworks, it is going to become very difficult for investors to make decisions; and that is why this conversation that we are having here is very important for Africa,” he said.        
 
He continued: “This Investment Facilitation for Development Agreement is critical to unlocking Africa’s full FDI potential. The Agreement will also provide equal opportunities, especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries and LDCs, remove red tape and reduce trade barriers as well as a great deal of transparency that will allow investors at all levels to have the information they need in their operations.”