Investment in Zimbabwe drops by 25%

Investments to Zimbabwe, mostly foreign-funded projects, dropped by nearly a quarter year-on-year in 2013 as investors held their money to watch the southern African country's general elections and the aftermath. The government-run Zimbabwe Investment Authority on Friday said it approved projects worth 685.8 million U.S. dollars last year, compared to 909 million dollars in 2012. More than half of the investments came from China, followed by Russia and Britain. One third of the approved projects were in mining while the remaining concentrated in service and manufacturing sectors. Zimbabwe's economy has recovered from a decade-old recession but growth has significantly slowed in recent years. The government lowered the forecast growth from 5 percent to mere 3.4 percent this year. Analysts say the economic activities notably slowed in 2013 when the country held the general elections in July. Zimbabwe's veteran leader Robert Mugabe was re-elected, ending a four-year- old coalition government. But critics of the octogenarian leader say the ruling party's indigenization policy -- which requires foreign businesses with assets worth more than 500,000 dollars to cede majority stake to local partners -- might hurt investors' confidence.