{{African countries will continue to be attractive foreign investment destinations, with some Arab African states showing economic resilience, despite political instability following the Arab Spring of 2011, says Rand Merchant Bank (RMB).}}
During a conference call on Wednesday, the African investment bank said South Africa remained the most attractive country on the continent for foreign direct investment, followed by Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana and Tunisia.
South African purchasing power remained strong, although the country still battled with poverty and inequality.
RMB analyst Celeste Fauconnier said African countries dominated the list of the world’s fastest-growing economies and were increasingly seen as good places to invest.
“Between 1995 and 2012, Africa has done phenomenally well,” she said. “However, African countries are still a far cry from the leading developed nations of the world.”
Ms Fauconnier said investors saw great opportunities for foreign investment, especially in the resources sector, in sub-Saharan Africa. She said in terms of business and investment, South African companies now operated in every country in Africa.
Tunisia is among the richest countries on the continent, while other Arab nations such as Morocco and Egypt have also mostly weathered economic pressure arising from the Arab Spring events.
In previous years, RMB only included the Southern African region in its research, but last year added the northern region of the continent.
Ms Fauconnier said some countries in North Africa debuted above previously indexed nations in RMB’s research.
Countries such as Rwanda, Ghana and Mauritius enjoyed economic growth and attracted investors, she said, adding that in Rwanda a business could be registered online in about 24 hours.
Meanwhile, a new report by a Kampala based think-tank has revealed that East African Community partner states have invested modestly in science, technology and innovation (STI).
The report dubbed, Governance of Science and Technology in the EAC, by Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE), says lack of such investment is likely to impact negatively on the region’s economic development.
The reports indicates that though under the African Union, African countries committed to allocate one per cent of their national budget to research and development, no EAC member state has hit the target.
Speaking at the launch of the report in Kigali this week, the co-author of the report, Dr John Ouma Mugabe, a professor of science and innovation policy at the Pretoria University, South Africa urged regional political leaders to focus on science, technology and innovations as the main drivers of economic development.
“We spend much money on importing drugs from all over the world yet we have the capacity to manufacture them,” he said.
“We have seen leaders convening to commission roads in the region yet we have never seen them meeting to discuss the funding of science and technology.”
He said that countries focus much on strengthening bilateral relationships with the developed countries on trade, adding that it would be better to balance and divert to sharing knowledge on science, technology and innovation.
“EAC needs to emulate China, India and Brazil, where governments have injected a lot into science and technology education.”
He suggested there was a need for establishing a regional STI fund.
Over 90 per cent of science and technology initiatives in the region operate on external support.
In an interview with The New Times, the director general of Science, Technology and Research in Rwanda’s ministry of Education, Dr Marie Christine Gasingirwa, said although African countries had not hit the one per cent budget to research and development it was prudent for the countries to share knowledge.
“We discovered that it’s always better to share the knowledge and experience.”
She noted the issue of funding the sector was in the process, adding that government was committed to continue considering the sector as key to economic development.
The report underscores the importance of governance and political leadership in accelerating the pace of science and technology and innovation in the community and called upon the summit of Heads of State take actions to ensure full implementation of the EAC Treaty commitments on STI.
Uganda’s Member of Parliament, Mr Dennis Obua, challenged regional national parliaments and the media to take the lead in advocating for science and technology.
“We need to re-orient our thinking …the debates on science and technologies in our parliaments are limited, people are not interested and even the media attached to parliaments focus on politics too much.”
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