Mauritius has risen to the top of Bloomberg Economics’ 2026 Africa investment ranking, edging out South Africa for the highest score among the 19 markets evaluated.
Methodology behind the rankings
The “Africa Investment Risk-o-Meter” appears in Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2026 Investor’s Guide to Africa. It rates economies on five dimensions: economic strength, fiscal strength, institutions and governance, infrastructure and external vulnerability.
Underlying data such as growth rates, debt levels, political risk and foreign-exchange reserves are converted into Z-scores, allowing each dimension to be compared on a common scale before a weighted aggregate is calculated.
Scores are relative to the peer group, not absolute risk measures. A score near zero places a country in the middle of the sample; positive values signal stronger or lower-risk performance, while negative values indicate the opposite.
Mauritius claims top spot
The island nation posted a composite score of 0.6, just ahead of South Africa at 0.5. Behind them, Egypt, Ghana, Botswana and Ivory Coast each recorded 0.3, followed by Morocco at 0.2 and Nigeria at 0.1. Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya all landed on zero.
On the component level, Mauritius earned a 1.7 for institutions and governance, well above the group average. Its infrastructure score was 0.7, fiscal strength registered zero, and external vulnerability was slightly negative at -0.1.
Bloomberg attributes South Africa’s slip to a moderately weaker growth outlook, despite modest gains in electricity supply and logistics.
In preparation for the October 7 launch of the African Union-backed Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA), Mauritius is positioning itself as a regional financial hub. It is also one of only three African sovereigns holding an investment-grade rating from a major agency, with Moody’s assigning a Baa3 rating.
Nigeria makes biggest leap
Four places higher than last year, Nigeria moved to eighth with a score of 0.1. Gains came from stronger economic and fiscal metrics and a reduction in external vulnerability.
However, the country still lagged on institutions and governance as well as infrastructure, highlighting uneven performance across the five pillars.
Recent macro-economic reforms—exchange-rate liberalisation, removal of fuel subsidies and tighter fiscal policy—have been praised by the World Bank. The bank notes that these steps have bolstered government revenues, increased foreign-exchange reserves and improved policy credibility, even as infrastructure gaps and social adjustment costs remain sizable.
Despite the improved risk profile, large-scale investment commitments have been mixed. While fiscal and contractual reforms have advanced deepwater oil projects, the Bonga Southwest/Aparo development has yet to reach a final investment decision, serving as a test of whether macro gains translate into project-level funding.
Other notable moves
South Africa fell one rank, its outlook hampered by sluggish growth, high unemployment, raised public debt and lingering infrastructure bottlenecks.
Botswana dropped two spots as its growth outlook weakened, despite solid scores for institutions and infrastructure. A prolonged slump in the diamond sector has eroded revenue and fiscal buffers, prompting Moody’s to downgrade the rating to Baa2 on September 25.
At the lower end of the table, Namibia recorded -0.1, while Ethiopia, Zambia, Angola and Uganda each posted -0.2. Senegal scored -0.3, the Democratic Republic of Congo -0.5 and Mozambique -0.8.
Low rankings do not preclude investment activity. The DRC, Angola, Zambia and Mozambique continue to host major projects such as the Lobito Corridor linking Angola, the DRC and Zambia, and the revived Mozambique LNG development, illustrating how project economics can outweigh broader country-risk metrics for some investors.
Scope of the assessment
Bloomberg Economics evaluated 19 African economies, representing roughly one-third of the continent’s states. Two-thirds of the sample are among Africa’s largest economies; the remainder were selected for attributes like commodity resources, financial-hub status and business-tourism activity.
The ranking therefore reflects performance relative to the 19 markets included and should not be interpreted as a full ordering of all 54 African nations.
