Business
Africa to be most attractive investment region in next decade
(Reuters) – Global institutional investors plan to boost their asset allocation in African markets over the next five years, and are shifting to long-term investment strategies from more speculative, short-term bets, a survey showed.
Africa’s frontier markets, the smallest, less developed and less liquid among emerging economies, will offer the best overall prospects for investment growth in the next decade, said 51 percent of the 158 investors polled by Invest AD and the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Two-thirds of investors with an interest in frontier markets see Nigeria or Kenya holding the greatest opportunity, putting the continent ahead of frontier markets in Asia and Latin America, the survey showed.
Even among frontier markets investors, most are only just starting to explore African markets, with one in five of those surveyed having zero allocations. Among larger investors with more than US$10 billion under management, this is closer to one in three, according to the survey.
By 2016, however, all expect to have some exposure to emerging Africa, with nearly one-third expecting to shift at least 5 percent of their fund value there.
In terms of popularity with investors, Nigeria and Kenya top the list, followed by Zimbabwe, Egypt, Ghana and Libya.
