Publication

This paper examines how developing countries can benefit from foreign direct investments (FDI) as opposed to only attract it. The author argues that to help achieve the international development goal of halving absolute poverty, two conditions have to be met. He holds that developing countries need to be attractive to foreign investors and have to be conducive to favorable FDI effects with regard to overall investment, economic spillovers and income growth. He concludes that creating an environment in which FDI may deliver social retrurns will take considerable time exactly where development needs are most pressing.