US Chamber of Commerce publishes survey of attitudes to investment in Africa as US falls behind Europe, China in key bioenergy investment zone

In South Africa, the US Chamber of Commerce and Baird’s DMC released a survey of US corporate attitudes toward African foreign direct investment.

US investment in Africa has lagged significantly behind Europe and China in bioenergy, and the survey explores concerns and barriers.  Primarily, execs pointed to a “difficult business case — executives find that any investment in Africa needs a lot of hard selling within a corporation — the push-back is that it is too much trouble for an unreliable promise of return.” Corruption and political uncertainty were also cited as major investment barriers, with one respondent saying “”In Africa, it’s like playing Russian roulette and it’s risky,” while others cited lack of infrastructure, a justice system and education that create instability.

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