Wall of Investment Funds Hits Africa

Arnold Ekpe, chief executive of the Ecobank Group, said that the wall of money coming into Africa reflected both genuine reforms and a global hunt for higher yields."Frankly, some of the numbers we're looking at, I haven't seen that in 30 years of banking in Africa," Ekpe said.
Alex Garrard, a UBS managing director responsible for the bank's proprietary and customer trading in exotic fixed-income securities, said he had witnessed a sea change in the last 6 to 9 months in the willingness to invest for the long term in Africa.

Stuart Culverhouse, chief economist at Exotix, said foreign direct investment accounted for virtually all the billion in private capital flows into sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, in 2005.

Investments in Africa afford low entry levels allowing average investors to take advantage of great returns in a relatively short period of time. Africa, as a whole, is the last undervalued marketplace. These markets, with the exception of South Africa, now sell at bargain basement prices.