Infrastructure needed to encourage investment
Categories:
Africa,
Government,
Investment
Tags:
development
Jalil Mekouar: "If you were to look at how much investment we’re seeing and you compare that to how much investment you see somewhere else you might be disappointed. What I like to say is, compare the potential of when you see Africa, it’s about what, 50 plus countries, 55 countries, a billion people, 1,000 languages, so much of cultural diversity and so much of opportunities there business wise as well, the growth of the population, the middle class growth etc, etc, etc. All those indicators are fantastic, are great. How that translates into investment opportunities is difficult to say because all that needs to be balanced with the right infrastructure, the right decisions from governments’ safety and security of the people and the capital and being able to repatriate money etc, etc. So in that respect, Africa still has some way to go and because of that increased interest into Africa. I think governments and people will understand and the business community will understand that they have no choice but to provide the right legal environment and transparency and the right framework to precisely capture that interest and convert that interest into investments. So do we see increased investment? Yes but from a fairly low base err, so percentage wise it might look great, dollar wise it might look pretty weak compared to other destinations and other emerging markets.”