Zambia: Africa’s best investment option

Zambia has been described by the managing director of Japan Tobacco International Leaf Zambia as the best investment destination in Africa, based on the stability of the country’s economy during the past 10 years.

According to a Times of Zambia story, Robert Royle told a Zambia-Japan Trade and Investment Promotion event in Lusaka last week, that his company was investing K12 million on inputs and out-grower schemes for tobacco production during the current growing season, up from K11 million during 2013.

Royle said JTI was working with more than 15 commercial farmers in Eastern, Central and Western provinces of Zambia. It was providing inputs and financial support to farmers to ease the challenges of limited access to finance.

He said access to finance for farmers was limited because most banks were not giving loans to farmers – a situation that was impacting negatively on the growth of the agriculture industry in general.

At the same time, he urged the government to consider putting up a policy framework to reduce the challenge of land acquisition in the country.

But despite the challenges, he said Zambia stood out as the best investment destination in Africa, looking at the stability of the country’s economy during the past 10 years.