Empirical Analysis of European Economic Community and BRICS Foreign Direct Investment Inflows

Abstract

The European Economic Community (EEC) has been dominant in terms of global Foreign Direct
Investment inflows to the domestic economies of individual members since its establishment.
However, a newly formed BRICS which is a group of five third world countries comprising
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa; is putting up strong challenge to the EEC. Though
the BRICS is putting a strong performance in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) attraction, the
EEC still slightly has an edge over it. The BRICS has not leverage much on the agricultural
sector to serve as one of the major sectors for attracting FDI. The objective of the study is to find
out why the BRICS is still underperforming compared to the EEC in the area of FDI attraction.
The study is a qualitative one. Document studies method was adopted and utilized in generating
data from secondary sources such as academic journals, bulletins, textbooks, scholarly papers,
and internet materials. The generated data was analyzed through critical discourse method.
Numerical data was presented in tabular and graphical forms and analyzed through descriptive
and explanatory methods drawing inference from it. Findings from the analysis have established
that the EEC with 20% of World FDI total has outperformed the BRICS which recorded 17% of
the World total FDI. By way of recommendations, BRICS members should step-up their
agricultural productions for more FDI inflows into their individual national economies.