Nigeria has moved up seven positions to 11th place in Rand Merchant Bank's 2026/27 Where to Invest in Africa report, recording the sharpest improvement of any country in this year's edition and suggesting that recent economic reforms are reinforcing the country's investment appeal.
The gain follows a difficult adjustment phase. After ranking 9th in the 2024/25 survey, Nigeria dropped to 18th in 2025/26 while the economy absorbed the immediate consequences of major policy changes. The recovery to 11th indicates greater stability, though structural weaknesses persist.
"Last year's decline was the immediate reaction to necessary long-term reform. Nigeria's improved position now reflects the view that the economy has been set on a more stable course. Good policy decisions are hard to make and implement, but they ultimately drive investment and economic growth," said Isaah Mhlanga, Chief Economist at RMB.
The report emphasises the importance of assessing Nigeria's performance over several years. The current ranking reflects not only policy reforms but also adjustments in the foreign-exchange market and statistical revisions, such as the rebasing of GDP and the consumer price index.
RMB's new Resilience and Vulnerability Matrix adds a longer-term lens to the analysis. It moves beyond the question of which markets are attractive today and examines which are building opportunities capable of enduring stress. Within the framework, resilience covers the policies, institutions and buffers that enable an economy to withstand and recover from shocks, while vulnerability captures structural exposure such as export concentration, import dependence, climate risk and external financing requirements.
Nigeria's main strength is its size. It ranks first by population and third by GDP among the countries covered. Even so, structural issues tied to public institutions, economic complexity and oil dependence continue to shape the country's longer-term resilience. Macroeconomic stability stands out as a relative strength, whereas the quality of public institutions is identified as the largest gap.
"Investment attractiveness is not only about current opportunities, but also about the ability to sustain progress through periods of volatility," Mhlanga said.
