Africa Risk-Reward Index 2019 shows key trends shaping investment landscape

The fourth edition of the Africa Risk-Reward Index (ARRI) was released on September 25th, by Control Risks, a global risk consultancy, and Oxford Economics, a global advisory firm. The report offers a snapshot of the highly-dynamic investment landscape in Africa. The ARRI compares some of the continent’s largest and emerging markets and plots each country’s performance, relative to its African peers.

Control Risks and Oxford Economics said Africa remains a desirable investment destination with a young and increasingly urban demographic, a wealth of natural resources, and a proven ability to leapfrog technologies in areas such as telecommunications or finance.

Nigeria's reward score increased slightly from 5.48 (out of 10) in 2018 to 5.76 in 2019. Nevertheless, the country's risk score increased by 0.02 from 6.87 last year to 6.89 in 2019.

Angola increased its reward score by 0.69 from 2.49 in the previous year to 3.18. Zimbabwe's reward score increased by 0.94, recording the highest increase in reward score among the countries on the index.

The ARRI 2019 said Africa is no longer an even battlefield for United States and Chinese players as commonly thought. It said there is a surge of interest in Africa from smaller geopolitical players such as Russia, the Gulf states, Turkey, and India. Meanwhile, according to the report, current US-Africa trade is put at USD39 billion, while China-Africa trade has exceeded USD200 billion, and EU-Africa trade is now over USD300 billion.