Economic and Environmental Impact of FDI in Zambia

Zambia is one of the Sub-Saharan African countries that have a successful policy of attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through its privatisation programme. The impact of foreign direct investment in the mining sector has not been measured in terms of expected environmental, social and economic gains to specific groups of people and the economy as a whole. The main aim of this dissertation is to answer two pertinent research questions: Firstly, is Zambia’s current inward FDI in the mining sector economically and environmentally worse off than when previously owned by the state? Secondly, how beneficial is FDI for Zambians? Who is the main beneficiary?