IMF Reveals Why Many Investors ‘Scared’ To Invest In Nigeria

A large number of investors who have shown keen interest in Nigeria’s capital market are scared to put their money in its economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revealed.

Miriam Tamene, IMF’s Senior Financial Sector Expert, Debt and Capital Market Instruments Division, Monetary and Capital Markets Department, revealed this on Wednesday.

Tamane, who led a team of IMF officials to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Abuja, said quite a number of investors are interested in the country’s securities market but are scared their funds may get trapped in the economy.

“At the annual meetings of IMF, we were pleasantly surprised when we saw many investors interested in Nigeria’s securities market. A lot of people believe Nigeria is still investors destination of choice, but the main concerns most of them had was the fear that they might not be able to take out their money anytime they want, hence they are being very watchful,” she said.

“Investors are interested in Nigeria, but with difficulties they had in getting their money out recently, that confidence is not there yet. It has improved though, but they are still watching. It is still so much fragile and not what they can take for granted just yet,” she added.

SEC’s Acting Director-General, Dr. Abdul Zubair, said in his remark that the Commission had already rolled out several initiatives aimed at boosting investors’ confidence in the country’s capital market.

Zubair further assured the IMF that more initiatives will be introduced by SEC to enable the Nigerian Capital market stand tall among securities markets in the world.