KENYA – Kenya is tipped to be among seven economies that will replace the BRICS as new frontiers for long-term investment.
According to Fortune magazine, the other markets it dubbed the “Lucky Seven” are Indonesia, Mexico, India, Columbia, Poland and Malaysia.
India, already a member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), is projected to remain among the world’s hotspots for capital.
The February 2015 edition of the magazine says the seven have demonstrated improved governance and stability, factors that have helped Kenya edge its bigger African rivals like Nigeria and South Africa.
The magazine observes that with China’s economy slowing, Brazil on the brink of economic recession owing to severe drought and massive tax increases and the drop in crude prices taking a heavy toll on Russia’s economy, the economic powerhouses of BRICS are headed for a difficult period.
Economic turmoil
“Africa’s other large economies, Nigeria and South Africa, face more than their share of political and economic turmoil these days, but Kenya appears headed in the other direction,” the magazine says.
Fortune says President Uhuru Kenyatta appears poised to fast-track the overdue expansion of the power sector and other infrastructure, helped by Jubilee’s parliamentary majority.
The magazine says the government has strengthened the state’s security bureaucracy in the wake of recent terrorist attacks and that the ICC withdrawal of charges against Kenyatta brings a new measure of stability.
“The implementation of IMF-supported fixes to Central Bank and Treasury management ought to keep inflation in check and the currency stable as well,” says the magazine.
February 1, 2015; http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Kenya-joins-successors-of-BRICS/-/539546/2609408/-/14j6swfz/-/index.html
