South Africa’s foreign direct investment inflows more than doubled in the second quarter of 2026, climbing to R49.8 billion (about $3.03 billion) from R20.3 billion in the first quarter, according to the Reserve Bank’s latest Quarterly Bulletin. The sharp jump signals renewed international investor confidence in the South African economy after a slower start to the year.
The investment surge comes despite a mixed domestic labour picture — the country’s formal non-agricultural business sector shed another 14,000 jobs over the same period, with business services losing 13,000 positions and trade losing 8,000, only partly offset by a 5,000-job gain in transport. The contrast highlights a familiar pattern in South Africa’s economy: capital inflows and investor sentiment can improve even while domestic employment growth lags, often because FDI tends to concentrate in capital-intensive sectors like infrastructure, energy, and finance rather than the labour-intensive services that drive job numbers.