A just-released report of the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), issued jointly with the AfCFTA Secretariat, SOAS - University of London, and SITA (Supporting Investment and Trade in Africa), provides a comprehensive analysis of the status of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Africa, by comparing the different trends by investors both inside and outside the continent. The main findings of the report are that despite Africa has experienced significant FDI growth since 1990, with inflows reaching $79.6 billion in 2021, Africa's share of global FDI remains relatively small. However, there is also a good news.

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In knowledge-based societies, manufacturing does not play anymore a primary role in economy like it used to do in the past. Many economists have questioned the model of industrialization that most of developing and less developed countries are following today. Dani Rodrik for instance warned that the rush to industrialization by the latecomers in the development process, so to catch up with industrialized ones, requires huge investments in skill and capital development that, in turn, need the mobilization of significant financial resources, and above all... they need time. They therefore suggest to explore alternative development models leapfrogging manufacturing and go straight to a service-based economy. This is actually what happened in Africa, where in the last two decades most of workers have moved from low-productivity sectors like agriculture to services, differently from Asia, where they mainly shifted to industry. Some African nations have definitevly focused on the service sector to promote their growth: this is the case of Rwanda. This is often indicated as a paradox of the African development experience. Has it worked? No. But...

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