Foreign direct investment (FDI) continues to gain in importance as a form of international economic transactions and as an instrument of international economic integration. The rate of growth of worldwide FDI inflows in the past two decades has substantially exceeded that of worldwide gross domestic product (GDP), exports and domestic investment. Transnational corporations (TNCs) account for an increasing share and, in some cases, a substantial part of the assets, employment, domestic capital formation, research and development, sales and trade of many countries and have become one of the driving forces of integration in the world economy.

Despite the increasing importance of FDI in the world economy, published sources or readily accessible databases that provide comparable and accurate data on the investments and other activities of TNCs are scarce.

The purpose of the World Investment Directory and its database is to assemble comprehensive data and information in individual countries on:

• FDI
• Operations of TNCs
• Basic financial data on the largest TNCs
• The legal framework in which such investment takes place
• Selected bibliographic information about FDI and TNCs

The present publication covers 53 economies of the African region. Profiles on all these countries are contained in this volume, based on data available to the Secretariat. These are based on information available as of December 2007.

Country profiles contained in each volume of this series are regularly updated and placed on the UNCTAD´s FDI statistics website