The Bank of Zambia says the 2019 Foreign Private Investment and Investor Perceptions Survey has revealed a decline of 82 percent from 88 percent recorded last year. 
Speaking at the Dissemination workshop of the 2019 survey on foreign Private Investment and investor perception in Zambia, Bank of Zambia Governor Dr Denny Kalyalya said Foreign Direct Investments flows fell by almost 50.0 percent to about US$560 million in 2018 mainly due to losses of almost US$340 million in the mining sector where some companies encountered challenges.
Dr Kalyalya disclosed that this contributed to the increase in the stock of private sector external debt to US$14.0 billion in 2018 from US$12.8 billion at the end of 2017, adding that Switzerland was the largest share of the debt stock as a source country
“While the survey may be improved upon, it shows the strong corporation the Central Bank has with various enterprises” Dr Kalyalya said.
He adds that continued participation by the enterprises in the excise is of great importance because it generates information critical for policy formulation.
“It is encouraging to note that peace and security, political stability, a relatively stable macroeconomic environment and the ease of doing business continued to feature prominently as the main motivating factors for investing in Zambia” The Governor explained.
He also applauded the continued participation of various enterprises in the survey exercise as it is extremely important for generating information that is critical for policy decisions.