Maximising Sustainable Development Impacts of Foreign Direct Investment in Africa: Expectations, Host Governments’ Priorities, and Policy Design Effectiveness

In this thesis, I investigated four key areas relevant to maximising the sustainable development impacts of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the economies of African countries. It is argued and recommended in recent FDI and sustainable development discussions that, in order to maximise the contribution of FDI to the sustainable development of developing countries, the host governments need to understand the gains that they expect from FDI, as well as the motives and strategies of foreign investors coming to invest in their host economies, so that appropriate policies that attract the type of FDI that aligns with the host governments’ expectations can be adopted. While these key components are relevant to advancing knowledge and contributing to the economic growth and development of developing countries, there is little exploration into how they can be adopted in various developing countries, considering the idiosyncrasies in individual country capacities. This thesis took on the task of exploring these key areas in the context of African countries.