President Muhammadu Buhari during his final lap of Presidential campaign in Lagos before 2015 election
In Africa or mainly developing economies, election year is always trailed by weak inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) based on uncertainties that may follow announcement of election results.
Otherwise, as more investment inflow is being projected for Africa next year, Bloomberg sees Nigeria losing ground as more and more investors would shy away from the country because of election in 2019. It says that electioneering would result in suspension of ongoing reforms by the incumbent to enable it galvanise support. This is projected to hurt investments in the country.
“Nigerian politicians are already gearing up for elections in early 2019. President Muhammadu Buhari, who is 75 and spent many months this year in London getting treatment for an undisclosed illness, is yet to say if he’ll run again.
Bloomberg argued that either way, any signs that officials are putting much-needed reforms on hold to concentrate on the vote may unnerve investors in an economy that’s struggling to recover from last year’s recession”, it said.
Other countries featured in the projection considering the nearness of their general elections include Ghana, Egypt, Angola and others.
