Harare (New Ziana) – Zimbabwe registered US$154.5 million in both foreign and local investment in the first quarter of 2023, the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA) has said.

The agency, which is in charge of promoting and registering investment in the country, said a total of 5095 investor licences were issued in the period.

This covered both local and foreign investment, with China, India, the UK and the US being among the top five investment source markets.

“For first quarter of 2023, the total actual investment recorded was US$154.5 million which is comprised of capital equipment from abroad of US$64.45 million: equity US$26.86 million: loans US$2.41 million and local assets of US$60.77 million respectively, which includes local funds and raw materials,” ZIDA said.

It said China dominated the investor’s list, with most of its capital directed to the mining sector, particularly the new lithium sub-sector.

“In Q1 2023, 36 percent of all licences were issued to lithium investors (prospecting, mining and processing). The strong trend began in 2022 and is expected to continue for the rest of 2023 and beyond. With the government’s thrust to encourage more mineral beneficiation, we expect manufacturing, already drawing significant investment, to also continue to be of interest to investors,” it said.

ZIDA said there was also strong interest among investors in renewable energy, and a number of applications were being processed.

Last year, ZIDA registered US$2.33 billion in investment, the bulk foreign.

New Ziana