The impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Lesotho

dc.contributor.advisorNikolaidou, Eftychia
dc.contributor.authorNkhasi, Rethabile
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-15T14:45:26Z
dc.date.available2025-09-15T14:45:26Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.date.updated2025-09-15T14:03:38Z
dc.description.abstractThis study evaluates the impact of the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) on Lesotho's economic growth in both the short- and long-run from 1977 to 2020. Three versions of the exogenous model guided by Solow (1956), Mankiw Gregory et al. (1992), and World Bank (1990) and augmented by FDI are used and then estimated by the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration. The findings show that FDI's influence on economic growth is negligible, while capital investment (i.e. gross fixed capital formation) and human capital induce economic growth in both the long-run and the short-run. It is also noted that population growth is detrimental to economic growth in both periods whereas trade openness only exerts a positive influence on economic growth in the long-run. The policy implications that are derived from this study suggest amendments in land allocation policies and increased governmental support for the investment promotion agency, LNDC, which currently relies on limited income sources. Moreover, the paper recommends that policymakers boost technological progress by regularly updating school curricula and promoting trade, particularly in tech-intensive sectors.
dc.identifier.apacitationNkhasi, R. (2025). <i>The impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Lesotho</i>. (). Universiy of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41818en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationNkhasi, Rethabile. <i>"The impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Lesotho."</i> ., Universiy of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics, 2025. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41818en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationNkhasi, R. 2025. The impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Lesotho. . Universiy of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41818en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Nkhasi, Rethabile AB - This study evaluates the impact of the inflow of foreign direct investment (FDI) on Lesotho's economic growth in both the short- and long-run from 1977 to 2020. Three versions of the exogenous model guided by Solow (1956), Mankiw Gregory et al. (1992), and World Bank (1990) and augmented by FDI are used and then estimated by the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration. The findings show that FDI's influence on economic growth is negligible, while capital investment (i.e. gross fixed capital formation) and human capital induce economic growth in both the long-run and the short-run. It is also noted that population growth is detrimental to economic growth in both periods whereas trade openness only exerts a positive influence on economic growth in the long-run. The policy implications that are derived from this study suggest amendments in land allocation policies and increased governmental support for the investment promotion agency, LNDC, which currently relies on limited income sources. Moreover, the paper recommends that policymakers boost technological progress by regularly updating school curricula and promoting trade, particularly in tech-intensive sectors. DA - 2025 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - FDI KW - economic growth KW - ARDL KW - exogenous growth theory KW - Lesotho LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - Universiy of Cape Town PY - 2025 T1 - The impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Lesotho TI - The impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Lesotho UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41818 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/41818
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationNkhasi R. The impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Lesotho. []. Universiy of Cape Town ,Faculty of Commerce ,School of Economics, 2025 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41818en_ZA
dc.language.isoen
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentSchool of Economics
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Commerce
dc.publisher.institutionUniversiy of Cape Town
dc.subjectFDI
dc.subjecteconomic growth
dc.subjectARDL
dc.subjectexogenous growth theory
dc.subjectLesotho
dc.titleThe impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Lesotho
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMCom
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