{{Investiment promotion Agencies are reportedly less responsive to direct investor Inquiries than they were three years ago even as countries compete to attract investments.}}
“Skilled investment promotion agencies can give economies a competitive advantage by helping investors choose a suitable location and set up operations that create jobs and promote growth.”
According to the World Bank Group’s Global Investment Promotion Best Practices 2012 report, 80% of national investment promotion agencies are failing to respond to investor inquiries in the key sectors of agribusiness and tourism.
The report assesed 189 economies’ responsiveness to investors. It found that that investment promotion agencies are less responsive to direct investor inquiries than they were three years ago.
In the areas of inquiry-handling and website performance over the past two years, two regions showed improvement—the Middle East and North Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean.
“In difficult times, governments may be tempted to cut funding for investment promotion. However, this can cost them opportunities to secure investments and jobs,” said Pierre Guislain, Director of the Bank Group’s Investment Climate Department.
The report shows that limited resources need not be an obstacle to effectiveness.
The report was produced by the Investment Climate Department of the World Bank Group (which includes IFC, MIGA, and the World Bank) and sponsored by ProInvest, a European Commission partnership program for the countries of Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, and by the government of Spain.
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