Africa said to have $1.7 trillion potential wealth

Africa has $1.7 trillion of potential wealth and production in areas such as agriculture, tourism and water, a study showed on Wednesday, pointing to new investment areas that stretch beyond commodities.

The study by investment research firms Africa Investor and The Africa Group said the potential represented an additional market size of $762.4 billion.

GDP in Africa, one of the fast-growing regions in the world, has been boosted by its vast natural resource wealth in recent years and new partnerships in other sectors could also lift growth.

A McKinsey Global Institute study says Africa’s strong growth will continue at a rapid pace and investors and businesses cannot afford to ignore the continent’s potential, which goes far beyond commodities.

“At the highest level, Africa is similar to any other private investment … investors must take on risk to pursue an addressable market opportunity,” The Africa Group said.

The study also estimated stocks of extractable oil, gas, coal and uranium to be worth between $13 trillion to $14.5 trillion.

Source: Reuters