Investors worry on how to get their money  out from Africa  - By Sunny Oputa

The price of oil is recovery and showing much life, indicating that investors will seriously believe OPEC’s supply cut not to be mere poker game. Investors’ confidence has been massaged and is growing tremendously. Africa is expected to experience serious surge in all sectors of oil and gas value chain. It is expected that upstream which saw a significant drop in investment in 2016 due to the significant drop in global oil price, that sector will garner major investment especially offshore. Merger & Acquisition is also bound to increase and the downstream sector will surely smile.

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Amid, the expected growth, investors continue to worry on how they could repatriate their money out of Africa due to stringent investment law or not well explained financial policy which encompasses oil and gas industry.

While many countries have established processes on  how such deals could be done through their central banks, the increase recession and drop in value been suffered by the currencies of major producing nations in Africa and high level of political instability continue to worry international investors.

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World Bank record shows that most of the producing countries in Africa happen to fall into the list of countries that it is so difficult to business with in terms of opening shops, registering business, multifaceted policies, corruption and lack of infrastructures.

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If these countries are to completely win the confidence of investors as the oil market rebounds, it is important to increase the education of investors and compartmentalize government policies or the many channels to be passed through before approvals or denials are received. Most African governments have been docile when it comes to infrastructural development and should wake up from their slumber. The endemic nature of corruption should be revisited inasmuch progress has been done in that area.