Africa has been experiencing rapid growth in foreign direct investments ahead of the global financial crisis due to sound macroeconomic and regulatory policies (Strauss-Kahn, 2009). For example, foreign direct investments rose from $13 billion in 2004 to $33 billion in 2007. Equity flows reached an all-time high of $15 billion in 2006. Private equity and debt flows rose to $53 billion in 2007 (IMF, 2008; Marcias and Massa, 2009). While the first-round effects of the global financial crisis have been minimal, the second-round effects are already impacting African economies, with implications for the agricultural sectors. These include (IMF, 2009): contraction in demand for commodities and consequent slump in commodity prices; increase in credit risks and tightening of lending to emerging markets; increased volatility in some local financial markets that are exposed to foreign equity investments (e.g., Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda); and decline in lending to domestic subsidiaries of foreign banks, etc. The demand for agricultural commodities, which had peaked during the food crisis, is weakening due to contraction in economic growth in developed countries. The slowing demand is predicted to affect the growth rates of African economies that are estimated to drop from 6.9% in 2007 and 5.5% in 2008 to only 1.7% in 2009 (Marcias and Massa, 2009).
Despite the reduction in debt levels mentioned earlier, total debt levels have risen to $300 billion in 2009 as a result of the combined effects of food and global financial crises. Growing budget and balance of payment deficits facing several African countries, especially oil-importing food deficit countries, and the decline in global commodity prices for major primary agricultural exports, may further reduce investments, domestic savings, and available resources for investments in agriculture, infrastructure, and social sectors. Analysis by Marcias and Massa (2009) showed that a contraction of FDI by 10% is expected to lead to a reduction in per capita income growth by 0.5% or an estimated loss of $5 billion in output in SSA. Since agriculture accounts for a large share of GDP in many African countries, and relies heavily on remittances, it is likely that the agricultural sector will be even further weakened as governments pull back on much needed public investments and support to farmers—and as remittances decline to support investments in productive assets and farm inputs.