FG woos Sri Lankan investors

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Latest Politics Friday, November 15th, 2013

…Says Nigeria remains strong, stable destination for FDI

From AIDOGHIE PAULINUS, in Colombo, Sri LankaDespite her rising economic challenges, President Goodluck Jonathan, has said that Nigeria remains a strong and viable destination for Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).Jonathan noted in today’s uncertain economic environment, with over-leveraged nations, risk-averse corporate and indebted consumers; it is Africa’s turn to drive the global economy growth.
Speaking in Colombo, the commercial capital of Sri Lanka yesterday during the Commonwealth Business Forum, Jonathan stated that with a population exceeding one billion people, unrivalled natural resources and enormous opportunities to build up capacity, Africa can be that engine of growth for the global economy over the next decade.

Represented by Vice President Nnamadi Sambo, the President said as the most populous country on the continent, Nigeria has a central role to play in African and global economies, adding that with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $270 billion, Nigeria is currently one of the largest economies in Africa.

Jonathan said: “We have played a strong stabilizing role in Africa in order to ensure security for economic development. We will continue to lead the way in forging a clear African agenda on issues of international polity, as Nigeria’s economic development will drive Africa’s development while Africa’s economic development will drive the world.

According to him: “Nigeria remains a strong and stable destination for FDI. As a glowing FDI destination, Nigeria will continue to have a positive impact on the global economy. In today’s world, asset managers, financial institutions and investors are searching for investment outlets and Nigeria has become a key source of such investment destination.”

The president added that in June, for the second year running, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) announced that Nigeria was the number one destination for investment in Africa and in terms of returns, was number four in the whole world.

Jonathan added: “Nigeria is excellent for FDI because the macro-economic environment is stable; exchange rates have been fairly stable, while economic growth has consistently averaged seven percent in the last 10 years. The local market is large and we have a low debt to GDP ratio.”

While saying that Nigeria is also at the forefront of intra-African investments and working to create scale, improve efficiencies and develop synergies between African countries and businesses, Jonathan observed that a well-integrated Africa is good for global economic growth.

Jonathan further said Nigeria was on its way to becoming the food basket of the world, adding that in 2011, she launched her agricultural transformation agenda at the start of his administration with the goal of adding an additional 20 million MT of food to the domestic food supply and creating 3.5 million jobs.

According to Jonathan, “We now treat agriculture as a business to unlock wealth for Nigeria as our goal is to make Nigeria an agriculturally industrialized economy and a major net exporter of agro products within the decade,” Jonathan said.
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