FDI has been regarded as an essential part of a liberal and functional global economic system; more especially in developing countries such as WAMZ countries. But these countries even with their liberalized foreign policies and regulations kept having low FDI inflow. Due to the evidence of risks and uncertainties associated with market failure inherent in the WAMZ countries, there is need for government regulation, since right institutional framework such as policies and regulations have positive influence on the inflow of FDI into a recipient country. Drawing from the Institution FDI Fitness Theory and employing Fixed Effect Model and time series data from 1975 to 2019; this work examined the significant impact of regulatory quality on FDI inflow into the WAMZ countries. The findings from the result of this study revealed that regulatory quality has positive significant impacts on FDI inflow into the zone; and therefore recommended that governments in WAMZ should also encourage good regulatory quality in the form of favourable, flexible rules and regulation that guide the operation of both persons and businesses, favourable investments environments and/or climates, among others, so as to attract high FDI into the zone.

Key words: Regulatory quality, FDI, Fixed Effect, Institutional FDI Fitness, WAMZ

GEL: F15, O11, O24, O55