Foreign Direct Investment and Technology Transfer Policies in Africa: A Review of the Ghanaian Experience

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into Africa has received research attention in the past two decades, and the flow of FDI into Africa has been on an upsurge. Countries such as Ghana have improved their investment climate to increase FDI attraction. Clamour for FDI has led policy focus toward attraction, with little attention to technology transfer and capacity building. FDI flow, global competitiveness index and tertiary enrollment data are adapted to evaluate technology transfer and capacity building. This article reveals that there is a policy vacuum and/or policy ineptitude: FDI policies are not integrated with education and human capital development policies, technology development policies, technology transfer policies, and private-sector development policies. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.