The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said on Wednesday that Nigeria is still a destination for investors.

The Senior Financial Sector Expert, Debt and Capital Market Instruments Division, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF, Miriam Tamene, said this in a statement issued by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Abuja.

Tamene spoke when she led a team of IMF officials to the SEC office in Abuja.

Highlights:

• The Fund was pleasantly surprised to receive numerous indication of interest by investors eager to invest in Nigeria.
• The IMF official, however, stated that many of them still nursed the fear that they may not be able to retrieve their funds anytime they decide to leave the country.
• She urged monetary and regulatory authorities in Nigeria to roll out policies that would bring down the inflation rate in the country as well as increase access to domestic funds – so that the economy attained further growth in 2018.

“At the annual meetings of IMF, we were pleasantly surprised when we saw many investors interested in the Securities Market in Nigeria.

“A lot of people thought that Nigeria is still investors destination, the main concerns most of them had was the fear that they may not be able to take out their money anytime they want to hence they are being very watchful.

“Investors are interested in Nigeria, but with difficulties they had in getting their money out recently, that confidence is not there yet.

What this means: Nigeria’s image abroad has improved yet, there are still a couple of policies that are not in place to ensure that the country looks attractive to investors.

As much as we commend the economic strides of the Buhari-led government, in this case, the ease of doing business strategies, it would be pertinent to note that a lot of work is yet to be done.

Omoleye Omoruyi

Omoleye Omoruyi… an apprentice web/game developer, novelist, sensitive to happenings in the world. Meet him @Lord_rickie on Twitter/Instagram