8 •
The Lion King
• October - December 2017
BUSINESS
INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES TO
LOOKOUT FOR IN 2018
BY OLAWALE HAMED
T
he Group Managing Director of
UBA, Kennedy Uzoka, has predict-
ed that 2018 is going to be even
better than all the other years. The eco-
nomic indices agree too. According
to the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), economic growth is expected
to rise to 3.4% in sub-Saharan Africa in
2018 from 2.6% in 2017. Furthermore,
the Fund noted that good harvest
and recovery in oil output in Nigeria,
uptick in mining and a better harvest
in South Africa as well as a rebound
in oil production in Angola would add
to growth on the African continent in
2018.
However, IMF has cautioned that rising
debt and political risks in larger econ-
omies amongst other things would
weigh down on future growth. In order
to help maintain growth, the Fund
advised countries to diversify from
over-dependence on commodities,
implement fiscal reforms to stimulate
growth and seek to attract private
investment.
Looking inwards, the Nigerian econ-
omy is projected to expand by 1.9%,
but would remain subdued due to
population growth, as the country’s
projected growth is still lower than
its population growth rate of 2.7%. In
order to ensure sustained growth, the
Government will seek to maintain an
expansionary policy that will boost
investment as well as consumption.
Furthermore, the government will con-
tinue to pursue means to significantly
improve the country’s balance of
payments by growing non-oil export
volumes. Some of the activities on the
part of the government will include
minimum wage review, continued
investment in the agricultural sector,
infrastructure upgrade and develop-
ment and debt restructuring. These
activities will bring about investment
opportunities for wealth creation in
the New Year, some of which are high-
lighted as follows:
Financial markets/Government Fixed
Income Securities:
In 2015, about 80% of borrowings by
the federal government came from
the domestic market, with just 20%
coming from external sources. In 2016,
the figure dropped slightly to 76%. As
of September ending 2017, total out-
standing public debt stock in Nigeria
according to the Debt Management
Office stood at N12.5trillion which
comes to 73% of total outstand-
ing public debt stock. This volume
includes Nigerian Treasury Bills and
FGN sovereign bonds both averag-
ing 15 – 16% yield. Despite declining
yields as the government plans to
