The government has hailed its development blueprint after South Africa moved up two places on AT Kearney’s 2014 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index.
“The report, which cites South Africa as the only country in Africa on the list of top 25 countries, demonstrates that our country’s blueprint on development is yielding results,” spokesperson Phumla Williams said.
“South Africa offers lucrative value and opportunities for international investor partnerships, as the country is uniquely positioned as the gateway into Africa.”
The index was released earlier this week following a survey of senior executives from 300 of the world’s leading corporations on where they thought the most attractive FDI destinations were.
The USA, China and Canada topped the list while South Africa came in at 13, moving up two places from its 2012 position.
Williams said that international companies were increasingly seeing South Africa as one of the investment destinations of choice, citing tax incentives as a contributing factor to bringing in foreign direct investment.
“The country has a fertile business environment and infrastructure in a number of sectors including, finance and telecommunications,” she said in a Sapa report.
“South Africa has heeded President Jacob Zuma’s call to focus on changing negative perceptions held by foreign investors and thereby attract further investment.”