The Investment Treaty Regime and Public Interest Regulation in Africa

by Dominic Npoanlari Dagbanja

Oxford University Press, 2022

ISBN: 9780192896179

Emmanuel Bechem

 

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has widely been recognised as a wavemaker for economic progression on the African continent. Though investment flows to Africa attained a record-breaking $83 billion in 2021, this figure represented only 5.2% of global FDI.1 Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic saw FDI to sub-Saharan Africa decline by nearly 50%, further crumbling the already struggling private sector in this region.2 The decline in FDI volume is merely one aspect of a multifaceted array of challenges, encompassing worries about safeguarding investments, preserving regulatory autonomy, and upholding the development rights of African nations. Indeed, beyond the veneer of economic potential lies an intricate terrain fraught with tensions stemming from colonial legacies, neo-colonial dynamics, and the quest for developmental sovereignty.