Oil, foreign aid and FDI flows: The missing link?

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

This paper studies the possible strategic use of foreign aid to get preferential access to oil. Furthermore, it also addresses the role of oil as a determinant factor for the allocation of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Using a panel data set of 48 oil producing countries for a period of 30 years, ranging from 1980 to 2010, it was found that, not only is oil a key factor for the determination of foreign aid and FDI, but also that there is a clear distinction between the importance conceived by donor and/or investing countries in their current and future level of oil dependence.