Namibia 18th most attractive investment destination in Africa - report
Namibia attained score of 0.05 out of 0.80
Crediting Namibia's investment strengths, RMB noted that Namibia has strong fundamentals that could help address the country's weaknesses.
Namibia has been ranked 18th out of 31 jurisdictions on the African continent in terms of investment attractiveness.
Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) scored Namibia a lowly -0.05. This score places Namibia unfavourably compared to countries such as Benin, which is ranked 17th, Rwanda at 16th and Botswana in 15th place.
Making the top of the list is the island nation of the Seychelles, which scored 0.72 out of 0.80, Mauritius, which scored 0.69, Egypt, which scored 0.49, South Africa, which scored 0.33 and Morocco, which scored 0.30.
Strong foundations
Crediting Namibia’s investment strengths, RMB noted that Namibia has strong fundamentals that could help address the country’s weaknesses.
“Namibia has several strong foundations from which to address weakness. Gross domestic product per capita is sound at ninth on the model. Political stability is robust. Investors can rely on a functioning democratic system. Personal freedom is extremely high and second in the model only to the tiny Seychelles,” the RMB report said.
Namibia’s emergence as an oil and gas producer could also come into play in terms of attractiveness owing to the country’s potential to become a petro-state.
“Namibia’s most exciting prospect lies in offshore oil and gas discoveries. In fact, the country’s Orange Basin is emerging as one of the world’s most promising prospective oil and gas regions, which, as the Financial Mail puts it, could make it the world’s newest petro-state,” RMB said.
“Investors will be monitoring progress towards commercialisation of these discoveries, as well as the country’s strategy to use this chance to build a powerful sovereign wealth fund,” it added.
Top of the rankings
Seychelles and Mauritius ranked highest in terms of their economic stability, investment climates and social and human development indicators, RMB said.
“The top rankings of the Seychelles and Mauritius need special context because of their small economies and populations,” the lender said. “The limited size of these markets is a barrier that many investors will not overcome, despite the many other positives.”
When measured by economic performance and potential alone, Egypt topped the rankings, while South Africa’s market accessibility and innovation are considered the best on the continent, RMB said. Given the small size of the Seychelles and Mauritius, those two nations rank top overall among nations of substantial size, it said.
“With more than 110 million people, this is a large market that is attractively positioned relative to European markets,” RMB said. “Egypt scores well on economic complexity, innovation, human development and income equality, while scoring poorly on personal freedom."
- Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) scored Namibia a lowly -0.05. This score places Namibia unfavourably compared to countries such as Benin, which is ranked 17th, Rwanda at 16th and Botswana in 15th place.
Making the top of the list is the island nation of the Seychelles, which scored 0.72 out of 0.80, Mauritius, which scored 0.69, Egypt, which scored 0.49, South Africa, which scored 0.33 and Morocco, which scored 0.30.
Strong foundations
Crediting Namibia’s investment strengths, RMB noted that Namibia has strong fundamentals that could help address the country’s weaknesses.
“Namibia has several strong foundations from which to address weakness. Gross domestic product per capita is sound at ninth on the model. Political stability is robust. Investors can rely on a functioning democratic system. Personal freedom is extremely high and second in the model only to the tiny Seychelles,” the RMB report said.
Namibia’s emergence as an oil and gas producer could also come into play in terms of attractiveness owing to the country’s potential to become a petro-state.
“Namibia’s most exciting prospect lies in offshore oil and gas discoveries. In fact, the country’s Orange Basin is emerging as one of the world’s most promising prospective oil and gas regions, which, as the Financial Mail puts it, could make it the world’s newest petro-state,” RMB said.
“Investors will be monitoring progress towards commercialisation of these discoveries, as well as the country’s strategy to use this chance to build a powerful sovereign wealth fund,” it added.
Top of the rankings
Seychelles and Mauritius ranked highest in terms of their economic stability, investment climates and social and human development indicators, RMB said.
“The top rankings of the Seychelles and Mauritius need special context because of their small economies and populations,” the lender said. “The limited size of these markets is a barrier that many investors will not overcome, despite the many other positives.”
When measured by economic performance and potential alone, Egypt topped the rankings, while South Africa’s market accessibility and innovation are considered the best on the continent, RMB said. Given the small size of the Seychelles and Mauritius, those two nations rank top overall among nations of substantial size, it said.
“With more than 110 million people, this is a large market that is attractively positioned relative to European markets,” RMB said. “Egypt scores well on economic complexity, innovation, human development and income equality, while scoring poorly on personal freedom."
- Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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