KENYA RANKED IN WORLD’S TOP SEVEN

Industrialisation Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohammed (left) with Mr Ibrahim Hussein, director of administration in the Ministry of Lands during a forum at Whitesands Beach Resort in Mombasa, last week. Mr Mohammed said Kenya’s top ranking is a recipe for fast growth. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By RAMENYA GIBENDI

Kenya has been ranked among seven most promising global investment destinations with good governance structures that guarantee sustainable growth.

In what may increase the country’s efforts of attracting investments, the survey places Kenya ahead of the continent’s economic giants South Africa and Nigeria.

The country has been ranked alongside India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Mexico, Poland and Colombia by top business magazine — Fortune Magazine — as the best places investors should be looking to put their money.

“Few countries offer greater promise than Kenya,” the magazine said in story to be published next month.

SUB-SHARAN COUNTERPARTS

According to the report by American-based publication, Kenya also ranks highest among her sub-Saharan counterparts in terms of sound regulatory environment that is attractive to foreign investments.

“Africa’s other large economies, Nigeria and South Africa, face more than their share of political and economic turmoil these days, but Kenya appears headed in the other direction,” it said.

The ranking takes note of the government’s investment in infrastructure development, the power sector and the improving macro-economic stability.

The Jubilee administration’s dominance in both the Senate and National assembly has been cited as another reason why the country is guaranteed to achieve various economic reforms through legislation.

The report also takes note of the various efforts by the Jubilee administration to arrest runaway insecurity that has seen an increase in terrorism activities in the recent past denting the country’s attractiveness to investors.

“(The) government has strengthened the state’s security bureaucracy in the wake of recent terrorist attacks — and the decision by the International Criminal Court to withdraw charges against (President Uhuru) Kenyatta brings a new measure of stability,” it noted.

BOOST INVESTMENT

The ranking will boost the country’s efforts of wooing foreign direct investments, considered key to accelerating economic growth.

Last year, the World Investment Report 2014 placed Kenya ahead of Nigeria and Ethiopia as the most attractive investments destinations for foreign capital on the continent.

The report, compiled by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, showed that the country was developing as the favoured business hub, not only for oil and gas exploration in the region, but also for industrial production and transport.

Fortune Magazine warns investors of a potential economic slow down in emerging markets of Russia, China, Brazil and South Africa that were once considered hot investment bets.

The world’s second largest economy, China is said to have grown in 2014 at the slowest pace of 7.4 per cent in nearly a 25 years.

Brazil, on the other hand, is teetering on the brink of recession as it chokes under the weight of public graft and severe drought.

In Europe, falling prices of oil, which forms Russia’s economic backbone, sanctions and bad governance are taking a toll on the country’s economy ,estimated to contract 3.5 per cent this year.

The World Bank has, on the other hand, projected Kenya’s economy to expand by 4.7 per cent this year, similar to 2014.

CREDIT SOURCE: NMG