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This refers to any non-South African who brings money into South Africa. The government is at pains to encourage foreign investors into South Africa to create jobs and stimulate the economy. Their willingness to invest here depends on overseas perceptions of our economic and political stability. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been put off by the loss of our investment grade rating by the three major ratings agencies. It is also deterred by the high levels of national debt, especially among the parastatals like Eskom. However, South Africa does attract considerable foreign investment and generally the most FDI in Africa. The strength of the rand is also a major indicator of, and a factor in foreign investment. When overseas investors are coming into the country the rand improves against the US dollar and the yield on our long bond falls. This depends on international investor sentiment which is either "risk-on" or "risk-off". When it is risk-off, foreign investors tend to withdraw their funds from emerging economies like South Africa and put it into safer assets like US treasury bills - and vice versa.

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