Greenfield investment monitor fDi Markets has tracked a significant decline in investment into Zimbabwe between 2010 and 2012. A total of 14 projects were recorded during 2010, decreasing to 13 in 2011, before sharply falling to just six in 2012.

This 57% decrease can, in part, be explained by the increasing political and investment risk that Zimbabwe represents. A new law, dubbed the 'indigenisation law', came into force in the country March 2010. It required firms worth more than $500,000 to be at least 51% owned by indigenous people, giving foreign-owned companies five years to divest of at least 51% of their holdings to native Zimbabweans.

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The financial services sector has been hardest hit by the decrease in FDI. Previously the most popular sector for FDI, it attracted four projects in 2010, seven in 2011 and just one in 2012.

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