Zim Ranked Top Three African Investment Destination

According to the United Kingdom based Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) research, Zimbabwe is ranked third after Nigeria and Kenya as the top three African countries that are forecast to offer best investment return in five years.

The report titled: Africa: Institutional Investor Intentions To 2016 said more than one in two institutional investors see Africa as the most attractive region to invest in the next decade, with Zimbabwe listed among the top three followed by Egypt and Ghana.

“The main reason highlighted for selecting Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe are agricultural resources, mineral resources and human capital which these countries have. The participants in the survey disclosed that they were changing their strategies to long term from more speculative short term benefits,” the EIU report noted.

EIU is particularly well known for its monthly country reports, five-year country economic forecasts, country risk service reports, and industry reports.

The EIU research interviewed 158 institutions among them pension funds, hedge funds and private banks.

African countries ranked as offering the least investment returns up to 2016 are Swaziland, Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Benin and Niger.

Zimbabwe’s foreign direct investment in 2011 remained at US$125 million, though a jump from the US$105 million recorded in 2012.

Economic analysts have said the country had the potential to attract more investment growth, but are quick to indicate that policy issues were some of the stumbling blocks militating against the country achieving its full potential.