Victor Asante
Ghana has been ranked among Africa’s top 10 investment destinations.
A report by Rand Merchant Bank Limited (RMB), the corporate investment banking wing of Johannesburg-based FirstRand Limited, emphasised that Ghana has strong growth rates focused around the oil and gas sector, while the non-oil sector growth was supported by pro-business reforms.
The 2019 report, captioned ‘Where to Invest in Africa,’ said Ghana dropped from the 5th to 9th place in latest rankings due to a downward review of its 2018 growth rate by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Analysts and co-authors of the study, Celeste Fauconnier and Neville Mandimika, said that competing economies had shown greater improvement in both the economic and operating environment indices.
“Structural strength could help Ghana attain its 2019 growth forecast which government has put at 7.6 per cent growth,” they said.
In April 2018, the IMF reduced Ghana’s outlook from an estimated 8.9 per cent in October 2017 to 6.3 per cent.
Findings from the eighth edition of ‘Where to Invest in Africa,’ showed that efficient infrastructure was crucial to uncovering opportunities and unlocking Africa’s growth potential.
While there were changes to this year’s top 10 ranking, the top three countries from last year – Egypt, South Africa and Morocco, maintained their positions in terms of investment attractiveness, the report said.
Egypt retained the top spot as the largest African market in terms of gross domestic product, becoming the largest consumer market in the Middle East and North Africa.
“Its economy is diversified and receives large amounts of foreign direct investment,” the report said.
“Strides have been made to improve the investment and legal business environment, and growth is forecast at 4 per cent,’’ Mandimika said, adding that “the availability of hard currency to service debt and the depreciation of the Egyptian Pound since its flotation in 2016, however, remain some of its challenges.”
With a growth rate expectation of 4 per cent over the medium term, Morocco’s operating environment and investment appeal have been greatly enhanced since the “Arab Spring.”
The report’s analysis of individual African countries revealed that 11 African countries were forecast to grow above 6 per cent.
Ethiopia is set to be the fastest-growing economy in Africa, averaging 8.2 per cent for the next six years.
By Melvin Tarlue