The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has disclosed that many foreign investors are interested in coming to Nigeria but are scared about the foreign exchange scarcity in the country.
In a visit to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Abuja on Wednesday, the leader of an IMF team, Miriam Tamene, added that a lot needed to be done to make the nation’s securities market attractive to foreign investors.
Tamene, who is the Senior Financial Sector Expert, Debt and Capital Market Instruments Division, Monetary and Capital Markets Department of the IMF said, “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 think that Nigeria is still an investors’ destination, the main concerns most of them had was the fear that they might 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. 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 advised relevant authorities to address the high inflation rate in the country through appropriate policies and increase access to domestic funds to keep up the nation’s economic growth in 2018.