ADDIS ABABA- Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), South African diversified financial services holding company in its annual report said that Ethiopia is one of 10 most attractive countries for investors in 2019.
It released its 2018 edition of ‘Where to Invest in Africa’. The report reviewed the economic outlook and investment opportunities in Africa. There are significant changes in the top 10 African countries to invest in and some warnings for the future economic outlook across the continent.
According to report, Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Tunisia and Cote d’Ivoire are the top 10 African countries to invest in 2019. After coming Prime Minister Dr.Abiy Ahmed Ethiopia has been lauded by many world leaders for making substantial reforms to improve the country’s economic position.
It is time for investors to seize business opportunities offered by landlocked Ethiopia as the country seeks to recover its past glories and improve its economy, it stated. Despite significant socio-political instability negatively impacting the country’s business environment and investment potential, Ethiopia has jumped up one spot into fourth as compared to fifth in the previous sixth and fifth publications. If stability came with economic progress, the now East African largest economy could have ranked higher, it stated.
As a result of Ethiopia’s economic gains, Kenya has lost its placing as East Africa’s largest economy and moved down to sixth on the investment ranking. However, Kenya is still one of the continent’s strongest economies, but it comes with frailties that highlight many of the key issues facing African nations: corruption, ethnic divides political instability and rising debts, report assessed.
According to Nema RamkhelawanBhana, African analyst of RMB, “Africa’s importance to the global economy is reflected in a number of noteworthy publications that have been distributed by respected organizations in recent years and we understand that no two businesses are alike and that they regard macroeconomic, political, social and operating variables differently.” Governments are gradually coming to the realization that diversification is necessary to foster meaningful growth.
But transformation cannot be achieved in isolation. Structural reforms and greater private sector participation are crucial to unlocking Africa’s potential. RMBs analysis of sectoral developments specifically focused strongly to support in the spheres of finance, infrastructure, resources and retail. Nigeria does not make it into the top ten for the first time since the report’s first edition in 2011.
Egypt for the first time unseats South Africa as the leading investment destination in Africa as it has tried to succeed in consolidating part of the economic gains accumulated in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. However, the country’s operating environment could have been an inhibiting factor as Egypt’s rise has to do more with South Africa’s decline.
The Ethiopian Herald, January 17/2019
BY TSEGAYE TILAHUN
