Impact of Gulf Cooperation Countries’ Foreign Direct Investment on Sudan’s Agricultural Exports

Abstract

Agricultural foreign direct investment (AFDI) contributes to the long-term growth of developing countries. Sudan has rich agricultural resources with great potential for AFDI. However, so far, Sudan has not exploited this potential to attract investors from other countries, having less of a competitive advantage in agricultural production owing to local and international problems. In this study, we examined the effects of foreign investments of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries on agricultural exports in Sudan, in addition to other economic factors during 1990–2016 using the two-stage least squares (2SLS) model. The results showed that the investments of GCC countries in Sudan’s agricultural sector boosted agricultural exports. The exchange rate was found to be a key determinant factor of GCC countries deciding to invest in Sudan. We recommend that the Central Bank of Sudan encourage policies to stabilize the exchange rate to attract more agricultural investment from GCC countries.