A new $918m deal with the IMF should alleviate some of Ghana’s fiscal pressures and help restore investor confidence ahead of a critical bond issue, but further reforms will be needed to balance the budget.
Kenya in particular and East Africa as a whole are the real winners emerging from global market volatility, and 2015 will be a prosperous year for the region, says Anna Rosenberg of Frontier Strategy Group
Investing in frontier markets can come with a higher degree of volatility than more established markets, but to Dr. Mark Mobius and his team at Franklin Templeton Investments, they offer exciting potential.
Trouble was brewing long before the decision to seek IMF assistance last August, writes Said DeSaque, CEO and Principal, DeSaque Macro Research.
After five years of political instability, Madagascar’s economy, although very fragile, is starting to get investors’ attention, writes Anna Lyudvig.
Nigeria and Kenya frequently feature as the top investment destinations in Africa, with Nigeria being the clear front runner. Investors, however, are starting to view East Africa as a combined investment region that could rival the West African giant, using Kenya as a sturdy stepping stone to the wider East African region.
The listed property sector continues to show significant outperformance, despite property funds operating in a challenging environment. However, this degree of relative outperformance is not sustainable.
South Africa is in the unfortunate position of being very dependent on the actions of the US Fed and the Chinese authorities, meaning that the SA Reserve Bank cannot focus purely on domestic factors when setting interest rates, according to Izak Odendaal, Investment Analyst at Old Mutual Wealth.
