South Africa's foreign direct investment inflows fell by nearly R3-billion in the third quarter, the central bank said on Friday in its quarterly bulletin, as foreign firms sent less money to local subsidiaries.
South Africa's direct investment liability fell to R27.9-billion from R31.6-billion, the Reserve Bank (SARB) said.
Portfolio investments rose to R17.9-billion from R16.6-billion in the months from July to September.
"The larger debt security inflow could be attributed to the issuance of foreign currency-denominated bonds by a public corporation," the bank said in the publication.
Since replacing Jacob Zuma as President in February, Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to up foreign investment to kick-start an economy that only recently climbed out of a recession triggered largely by low business confidence linked to policy uncertainty.
Ramaphosa appointed a team of business and finance experts in April to scour the globe for $100-billion in investment.
In October at an investment summit in Johannesburg, Ramaphosa said the country had already secured investment commitments of around $20-billion.