The bulk of the projects were in the mining and manufacturing sectors followed by the services sector.
“If you look at the trend, the projects tend to increase towards the end of the year. For example, last year we had $146 million worth of approved projects in the first quarter, but the rose to $6,6 billion by year end.
In terms of value, mining has got the biggest projects but in numbers the majority of projects are in the manufacturing sector," said ZIA.
The majority of investment proposals are from China, India and South Africa, while Europeans are making a comeback.
Last year projects worth US$6,6 billion were approved and expectations were that the high value proposals will result in fresh capital injection and create more employment.
ZIA said investment projects approved last year were at various stages of implementation and will take a bit of time to materialise.
"The proposals show the intention of investors to invest in a country, hence it takes time for them to go back to their shareholders to mobilise capital and resources to implement their projects," said ZIA.
“It should be appreciated that it takes a bit of time for investors to actually mobilise the funding and to actually start the whole process of operating. That is why mostly we give them a minimum of two years to get their house in order and after that we ask them whether they are facing any problems,” said ZIA.
Post published in: Business