Foreign Direct Investment, Multinational Enterprise, and Trading Flows of Africa

Like other continents, Africa has seen and is still experiencing a large share of economic and political development. Moreover, the new African economic and commercial stimulants between 2000 and 2008 saw real gross domestic product (GDP) rising by 4.9 percent, double its speed as in the 1980s and 1990s (Leke, Lund, Roxburgh, & van Wamelen, 2010). During this period, sectors such as telecommunication, banking, retail, and construction were thriving as well as the influx of private investments (Leke, et al., 2010). Conversely, the 2007 global financial crisis did not spare the continent of Africa, and especially the more fragile countries, reducing overall economic growth instantaneously. According to Okwechime, Yange and Aduloju (2016), countries such as Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, and Sudan were expecting to lose four percent in growth in 2009, while other countries such as Egypt, Kenya, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Namibia, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Lesotho, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo, were expecting a two to three percent decline in economic activity in 2009