10 worst investment destinations in Africa in 2022 according to Absa

Africa stands as the world’s fastest-growing economy thanks to the continent’s abundant but untapped natural and human resources.

The continent’s willingness to adopt new innovations in tech and other sectors should be factored in as a reason why the continent has become an attractive destination for foreigners looking to explore a new and prospective market.

However, where the continent houses countries that are economically enticing, there are some that are not as equally appealing. This is not an indictment, but a testament to how rich the continent is as a whole when even the least financially unattractive regions in Africa are still highly sought after.

Absa used 6 key pillars to determine their investment index, these pillars are: market depth, access to foreign exchange, market transparency, tax and regulatory environment, capacity of local investors, macroeconomic opportunity, and legality and enforceability of standard financial markets master agreements. PHOTO / COURTESY.

Absa Africa Financial Markets recently released its Markets Index 2022, dubbed Harnessing the power of African opportunity.

In this report, 26 African markets were studied and listed in order of the level of investment opportunities. About seven of these countries performed worse than last year.

Absa used 6 key pillars to determine their investment index, these pillars are: market depth, access to foreign exchange, market transparency, tax and regulatory environment, capacity of local investors, macroeconomic opportunity, and legality and enforceability of standard financial markets master agreements.

However, of the 26 countries Absa studied, some countries’ scores were not as encouraging as others. Nevertheless, these countries were still among the 26 markets that are very promising in their own right.

Also, it is important to note that of the 6 pillars used to determine this index, some countries scored much higher in one pillar than they did in another. However, the aggregate of all six pillars was compiled and averaged to deliver an overall score to determine where each country ranked.

Another noteworthy fact is that the entire African market was not included in the original report, just 26 of the 56 African markets were studied, so the African market could have better and worse performances that were not taken into account by Absa.

Below is a list of 10 out of 26 worst investment destinations in Africa in 2022, according to Absa Africa Financial Markets Index: