Maravi

Ngwenya sees investment opportunities amid crunch

Ngwenya sees investment opportunities amid crunch
Written by Florence Bupe
Thursday, March 05, 2009 9:56:25 PM

COMMON Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) secretary general Sindiso Ngwenya has observed that the region still has vast investment opportunities despite the prevailing economic challenges.

Speaking at the just-ended second Comesa Investment Conference, Ngwenya said although there were various economic challenges affecting the globe, including developed economies, there were still numerous opportunities that could attract investment in the region.

“Even though the world’s major economies like the United States, Europe and Japan may have entered into a recession… I would like to strongly believe that there are still numerous opportunities for attracting investment within the current economic climate,” he said.

The conference was organised by the Comesa Regional Investment Agency, under the theme ‘Paving the Road to Comesa’.

Ngwenya emphasised the need for countries in the region to establish and implement policies that were investment-friendly.

“What is needed by individual countries and collectively, the Comesa region is to ensure that the right policies are in place so as to attract investment,” Ngwenya said. “We need to put in place sound macroeconomic policies that would not scare investors away. This means that we need to have the right foreign exchange policies, the right fiscal and monetary policies and an overall economic environment that is competitive enough to be able to attract investment in our region.”

Ngwenya said Comesa member countries faced the challenge of improving infrastructure and ensuring that potential investors were drawn to invest in the region.

Labels: COMESA, GREAT DEPRESSION II, SINDISO NGWENYA

posted by MrK @ 9:57 PM