Foreign Direct Investment and Infrastructure Development

One of the many areas in which foreign direct investment can benefit a country or any entity, for that matter, is that of development of infrastructure. It has been observed over the years, that a lot of countries as well as other recipients of direct investment from overseas entities have used that money in order to develop the infrastructural facilities at their disposal.

All the various types of infrastructure that are at the disposal of a country like health or education, for example, may be benefited by foreign direct investment.

Technological infrastructure is one of the many areas in which foreign direct investment is meant to benefit a country. With the help of foreign direct investment being made in a country the government can construct, as well as, improve the existing technological tools at their disposal.

This in turn also plays a very crucial role in the economic development of a country as this technological advancement assists a country in upgrading its industries and thus helps them to face the challenges of the contemporary global economy.

 Foreign direct investment is also capable of upgrading the health infrastructure of a particular country. This could be done by way of providing high-end equipments or medicines.

Such investment is normally made by the world level organizations in countries that are economically backward and have no or little medical infrastructure to speak of. For years, the World Health Organization, as well as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been providing a number of the economically backward countries, all over the world and especially in Africa, with money and medicines in order to eradicate critical diseases or improve the medical infrastructure in place.

They have also been sponsoring public health awareness programs that make people aware about critical diseases that need to be eradicated. In India, for example, pulse polio and HIV prevention measures have been at the center of such activities.

Communication infrastructure is an important area where the foreign direct investment can come in handy. The money that is invested in a country by overseas entities can be used for the construction of roads, railways and bridges.

These facilities are used for establishing connections with the remote areas of a country and for transporting important services to these parts like medicines and aids at times of floods or other natural disasters. A lot of construction groups are taking active interest in developing the communicational infrastructure of other countries.

Foreign direct investment is also used for the purpose of educating the unskilled labor force that is present in a country. In India during the later stages of 80s and 90s there was a situation whereby there was a huge labor force but it was mostly unskilled and was employed in the unorganized sector.

It was possible with the help of the financial assistance from the overseas direct investors to train these people so that they may be capable of being recruited into the industry. Foreign direct investment is also useful for executing mass educational programs that can educate those people who remain out of the bounds of conventional and institutional education as they are not able to afford it or it may not be available in their areas.