Benin’s foreign direct investment (FDI) net inflows reached $543.0 million in 2024, according to the World Bank API series for balance-of-payments inflows. That was the highest annual inflow in the supplied 2005–2024 record. Measured against the size of the economy, FDI net inflows represented 2.53% of GDP in 2024. These figures describe annual flows, not the total stock of foreign-owned investment in Benin.
Contents
- Latest Benin FDI figures
- Twenty-year inflow trend
- FDI as a share of GDP
- Recent changes from 2019 to 2024
- Earlier highs and negative flows
- Why the World Bank series must be read carefully
Latest Benin FDI figures
The most recent six observations show a sustained rise after the 2020 low. The World Bank API reports net inflows of $174.0 million in 2020, $346.0 million in 2021, $376.0 million in 2022, $443.0 million in 2023, and $543.0 million in 2024. The 2019 figure was $218.2 million.
The current-dollar series is reported as “Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$)” and uses the World Bank API indicator code BX.KLT.DINV.CD.WD. Values below are rounded to the nearest million for readability, while the underlying observations contain more precision.
| Year | Net FDI inflows, current U.S. dollars | Net inflows as % of GDP |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $174.0 million | 1.11% |
| 2021 | $346.0 million | 1.96% |
| 2022 | $376.0 million | 2.16% |
| 2023 | $443.0 million | 2.25% |
| 2024 | $543.0 million | 2.53% |
Source: World Bank API, indicators BX.KLT.DINV.CD.WD and BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS.
The two measures answer different questions. Current-dollar inflows show the recorded value entering the economy during the year. The percentage-of-GDP measure places that flow beside the annual size of Benin’s economy. A rise in both measures indicates that inflows increased in dollars and also became larger relative to GDP during this part of the record.
Twenty-year inflow trend
The current-dollar record begins with negative net inflows of $8.8 million in 2005 and $12.4 million in 2006. It then turns positive at $139.2 million in 2007, before falling to $48.2 million in 2008. The 2009 observation is negative again, at -$18.8 million. In 2010, inflows were $53.5 million.
The next part of the series shows stronger positive readings. Benin recorded $161.3 million in 2011, $281.5 million in 2012, and $360.3 million in 2013. The 2014 observation was $405.7 million, the largest current-dollar inflow before the 2024 record. Inflows then decreased to $149.8 million in 2015 and $131.8 million in 2016. They recovered to $200.9 million in 2017, followed by $194.1 million in 2018 and $218.2 million in 2019.
This sequence contains several distinct movements rather than a smooth upward line: an early period with two negative observations, a rise through 2014, a pullback in 2015–2016, and a later acceleration after 2020. Because the figures are annual flows, a high year does not by itself establish that the same level continued in later years.
The full current-dollar sequence is:
| Period | World Bank API net FDI inflow |
|---|---|
| 2005–2009 | -$8.8m, -$12.4m, $139.2m, $48.2m, -$18.8m |
| 2010–2014 | $53.5m, $161.3m, $281.5m, $360.3m, $405.7m |
| 2015–2019 | $149.8m, $131.8m, $200.9m, $194.1m, $218.2m |
| 2020–2024 | $174.0m, $346.0m, $376.0m, $443.0m, $543.0m |
Source: World Bank API, BX.KLT.DINV.CD.WD, “Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$).”
FDI as a share of GDP
The percentage series broadly follows the current-dollar series, but it provides a different scale for comparison across years. FDI net inflows were -0.13% of GDP in 2005, -0.18% in 2006, and 1.70% in 2007. The share was 0.49% in 2008 and -0.19% in 2009, then rose to 0.56% in 2010.
The share increased to 1.51% in 2011, 2.53% in 2012, 2.88% in 2013, and 3.05% in 2014. The 2014 observation was the highest percentage of GDP in the supplied period, even though 2024 had the highest current-dollar amount. That difference matters: the relative measure depends on both the inflow and the denominator, so the record high in dollars and the record high as a percentage do not occur in the same year.
The share then fell to 1.32% in 2015 and 1.11% in 2016, before reaching 1.58% in 2017 and 1.36% in 2018. In 2019, net inflows were 1.52% of GDP. The 2020 value was 1.11%, followed by 1.96% in 2021, 2.16% in 2022, 2.25% in 2023, and 2.53% in 2024.
Across the latest five years, the share rose in every annual observation supplied: from 1.11% in 2020 to 1.96% in 2021, then 2.16%, 2.25%, and 2.53%. This is a description of the reported series, not a forecast of future investment.
Recent changes from 2019 to 2024
The 2019–2024 period starts at $218.2 million, or 1.52% of GDP, and ends at $543.0 million, or 2.53% of GDP. The intervening 2020 reading was lower in both measures: $174.0 million and 1.11% of GDP. From 2021 onward, both measures increased each year in the supplied data.
The dollar figures for 2021 through 2024 were $346.0 million, $376.0 million, $443.0 million, and $543.0 million. The corresponding GDP shares were 1.96%, 2.16%, 2.25%, and 2.53%. The parallel movement makes the recent period easy to summarize: inflows rose in current U.S. dollars while also taking a progressively larger share of GDP.
The World Bank API data does not identify individual projects, investors, sectors, destinations, or reasons for year-to-year changes in the supplied observations. The figures therefore support a time-series description of net inflows, but not a claim about which industries or countries generated them.
Earlier highs and negative flows
The earliest observations show why “net inflows” should not be treated as the same thing as gross new investment. Negative values appear in 2005, 2006, and 2009. The current-dollar readings were -$8.8 million, -$12.4 million, and -$18.8 million, respectively. The percentage-of-GDP readings for those years were -0.13%, -0.18%, and -0.19%.
Within this indicator, a negative annual value means the recorded net flow for that year was below zero. The supplied series does not provide enough detail to attribute each negative observation to a particular transaction or event. It is therefore more precise to report the sign and amount than to assign a cause.
The earlier peak was in 2014, when net inflows reached $405.7 million and 3.05% of GDP. The next two years were substantially lower: $149.8 million and 1.32% in 2015, then $131.8 million and 1.11% in 2016. The later high in 2024 exceeded the 2014 current-dollar amount, while its GDP share remained below the 2014 percentage.
Why the World Bank series must be read carefully
The main series is a balance-of-payments measure of foreign direct investment, net inflows, expressed in current U.S. dollars. It is not a count of foreign companies, a total investment stock, a measure of portfolio investment, or a total of every cross-border financial movement. The percentage series uses the same net-inflow concept and expresses it as a share of GDP.
The supplied data also includes a separate World Bank API indicator, “Foreign direct investment, net (BoP, current US$),” code BN.KLT.DINV.CD. Its observations are negative for every year supplied from 2014 through 2023: -$388.5 million in 2014, -$117.1 million in 2015, -$114.4 million in 2016, -$169.0 million in 2017, -$184.3 million in 2018, -$191.1 million in 2019, -$152.5 million in 2020, -$303.1 million in 2021, -$329.4 million in 2022, and -$430.0 million in 2023.
That separate indicator should not be blended into the inflow series. The labels and indicator codes differ, and the supplied observations do not provide a methodological explanation for combining them. For readers tracking Benin’s incoming investment, the consistent series is BX.KLT.DINV.CD.WD, alongside its percentage-of-GDP counterpart BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS. The measurement period is annual, the geography is Benin, and the values should be read as reported World Bank API observations rather than as independently verified estimates.