Nigeria 15th on Africa Attractiveness Index down to HDI, doing business

Nigeria is ranked 15^th on the newly released Africa Attractiveness Index computed by EY, owing to the country’s poor records in human development pillars, business enablement and governance.

The ranking shows South Africa as the most attractive in Africa followed in order by Morocco, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Ghana, Botswana, Tunisia, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia, who all rank above Africa’s biggest economy.

“While the Nigerian economy ranks as one of the most resilient in Africa, lower scores on the business enablement, governance and human development pillars are reflected in the overall ranking,” says EY, a global leader in tax, assurance and advisory services.

In the macroeconomic resilience heat map, the country ranks negative in government debt, current account, and inflation and GDP growth.

Nigeria ranks 152 (out of 188) in the United Nations’ Human Development Index, calculated with indices such as health, education and income.

The continent’s biggest oil producer ranks 169 out of 189 in World Bank’s Doing Business Indices, BusinessDay checks show.

According to EY, economic growth across the region is likely to remain slower in coming years than it has been over the past 10 to 15 years. However, two-thirds of Sub-Saharan African economies are still growing at rates above the global average, and will remain the second fastest-growing region in the world for the foreseeable future, after Emerging Asia, says EY.

This is further supported by the year-on-year increase in FDI project numbers in Africa in 2015 that occurred in a context in which the total number of FDI projects globally dropped by five percent.

“From an investment perspective, the next few years may be challenging – this is not because the opportunities are no longer there, but rather because these opportunities are likely to be more uneven than they have been. It is now more important than ever for organisations and investors, who sometimes place to great an emphasis on shorter term economic growth trends, to adopt a granular, fact-based approach to assessing investment and business opportunities for the long-term,” Sugan Palanee, Africa Markets leader at EY says.

Henry Egbiki, EY’s regional managing partner for West Africa, adds that it is important to recognise that this kind of indexed ranking does not provide a definitive assessment of any of these markets.

“There are obviously no absolute answers in searching for market potential. However, the Africa Attractiveness Index does provide a useful starting point for analysis and helps enable a strategic dialogue on growth priorities, risk appetite and investment criteria,” Egbiki says.

 

ODINAKA ANUDU