AMN - Botswana, Morocco, Burkina Faso look good for investors - comment by Yolanda Torrisi

In north-western Africa sits Morocco – a country steeped in a confluence and French and Spanish colonialism is slowly making its mark. This year Morocco was among the top African countries in the Fraser Institute annual survey of investment attractiveness.

It was placed 24^th, followed by Burkina Faso 29^th and Ghana in 31^st position. Botswana took the top honours at 14^th for the African continent.

The top honours globally went to Western Australia. South Africa ranked 66^th out of 109 companies that participated in the survey. In the previous year it ranked 74^th.

Kenya and Guinea were in the bottom 10 of the index as were Zimbabwe and Niger.

As an overall investment region, Africa ranks ahead of Oceania, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Argentina.

The survey is an attempt to assess how mineral endowments and public policy factors such as taxation and regulatory uncertainty affect exploration investment.

The top jurisdiction in the world for investment based on the Investment Attractiveness Index is Western Australia. Saskatchewan came in second, Nevada third, Ireland fourth, followed by Finland, Alaska, Northern Territory, Quebec, Utah, and South Australia.

- Yolanda Torrisi is Chairperson of The African Mining Network and comments on African mining issues and the growing global interest in the African continent. Contact:yolanda@yolandatorrisi.com